I Come to You in Pieces
by UnalignedSuccubus
Summary: Clexa AU. Lexa's family have just opened a new coffee shop/art gallery/awesome space in New York. Clarke is meeting Raven and Octavia there. What happens when the two girls meet? I really suck at summaries, but give it a read, you might just like it. T rated for now, that may change.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Hello again friends, here we are again. I don't usually write AU's, but for some reason this one wouldn't leave my head, so I had to write it. The first two parts are done (and posted) and they're long. Please don't forget to drop me a review, let me know what you think and whether or not continuing is a good idea, or I'll just leave it as it is. Thanks. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter One

When Raven had text her, Clarke had been at the loft. Her father had rented it for her, it was a place where she could do her art in peace, without her mother screaming at her for getting paint on the hard wood floors. Clarke would live there if she could. It was her space, somewhere she could just go to close out the world. She had totally forgotten that she was supposed to be meeting Raven and Octavia for coffee, her two best friends had been out shopping, something that Clarke hated. She knew that Raven hated it too, but Octavia loved it, and for Raven that was enough of a reason. The three of them had been pretty much inseparable since Clarke's parents had moved to the city when her mom got a new job, head of the emergency room no less, Clarke had been 8 years old. She didn't remember too much about the time she spent living in LA, other than the fact it was a lot warmer than New York, especially in the winter. She loved the winter though, the way the snow glittered like little diamonds in the glow cast from the street lights. The summers weren't that much different, she had always remembered LA being a little too hot for her liking. Something that she did love about New York were the people, especially the people she surrounded herself with, they were creative in every sense of the word. As an artist, Clarke loved being able to create something from nothing, nothing appealed to her more than a blank canvas. She spent a lot of her time at café's around the city, her father had long since labelled her as a bohemian, something that amused the blonde girl no end.

She checked the text from Raven again to make sure she was going to the right place, it was in the old factory district, not really somewhere that Clarke would consider a good place for a café. It was her kind of area though, a lot of the buildings had been transformed, some into art galleries, places which Clarke loved spending time. She would walk around the buildings, dreaming about the day she would open her own gallery. There had been a lot of talk about them renovating the area, as some of the abandoned buildings were popular with drug users and other not so socially acceptable members of society. Opening a new café there was certainly a brave move. She stopped in front of the building which Raven had text her the address off. Ark Station. It didn't look like much from the outside, but as soon as Clarke pushed the doors open, it was like she had stepped into a dream world. The walls had all been stripped back to their original brick work, there was a café area which was busier than she had expected it to be. Paintings hung on the walls, sofas were placed in random places, huge cushions were scattered around the place. She noticed people sitting around, talking about everything from the weather to the latest book they were reading. She noticed a stage area, with a poster advertising Open Mic Night. It wasn't so much a café as a performance space. A step back to what Clarke had read about 80's New York. In that moment she realised that most of the time she had left before starting school again in the fall, would be spent there, it's somewhere she could just disappear. Towards the back of the building she noticed a closed off area, the sign on the wall said it was a gallery space to rent. While her eyes were still taking in the building around her she didn't notice a guy walking up to her.

"Welcome to Ark Station." He said when Clarke finally looked at him.

"This place is amazing…" Clarke said, looking around again.

"Always a dream of my mothers," he said with a small smile, "to come back to New York and open a place like this. She always bored us with stories as kids about how New York was full of artists."

"Guess she finally realised her dream huh," Clarke said with a smile of her own, "I'm Clarke."

"Lincoln." he replied, holding his hand out and smiling a little as she shook it.

"So your mom owns this place?" Clarke asked, her eyes once again travelling around the vast space in front of her.

"Yeah," he said, "me and my sister Anya run it, but it's my mom's baby. Are you into art?"

"Er… kinda." Clarke said with a laugh.

"Kinda?" She heard Raven ask from behind her, "Lincoln this is the Clarke I was telling you about."

"The girl who keeps herself and her awesome art locked away in a loft down town?" Lincoln asked.

"That's the one." Raven replied.

"Well in that case, my question is already answered," Lincoln said with a little laugh, "you'll have to bring some of your art around some time, I'm sure we'd love to see it."

Clarke's eyes were drawn to a girl who was sitting on one of the huge beanbag like cushions near the far wall, her head was buried in a book, but Clarke couldn't stop looking at her as the light illuminated her features. There was something captivating about her. As if the girl could sense Clarke looking at her, she looked up from her book. Her green eyes locking onto Clarke's blue eyes. In that moment Clarke felt butterflies spring to life in her stomach as the other girl's lips curled up in a small smile as she turned her attention back to her book. Clarke noticed her hair, kept from her face with very intricate braids. She hadn't even heard what Lincoln had said about her taking her art there sometime, in that moment Clarke was sure the building could fall down and she wouldn't notice. As an artist she was always drawn to beauty, but nothing had ever captivated her like this.

"Earth to Clarke," Raven said, waving her hand in front of Clarke's eyes, "come in Princess."

"Sorry what?" Clarke asked, blinking as she looked at Raven.

"Lincoln was just saying you should bring your art here sometime," Raven said, "What has you distracted anyway?"

Raven and Lincoln both followed the line of Clarke's eyes. She heard Lincoln laugh a little, and she was sure she could feel herself blushing.

"And that," he said with another laugh, "is my younger sister Lexa."

"Dude," Raven said, "your family has some good genes… she's smoking… sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Lincoln said with a laugh, "you're not the first person to say that."

"Bet you have to fight off all the guys around her right." Raven said, as Clarke was still distracted.

"Surprisingly no," he replied, "she does that herself. Can I get you a drink Clarke?"

"Er, yeah…" Clarke said.

"She'll have a coffee," Raven said, "and she'll be over here."

Raven grabbed Clarke's arm and dragged her over to the table where Octavia was sitting.

"What's up?" Octavia asked with a smile.

"Nothing, other than Clarke literally undressing Lincoln's little sister with her eyes." Raven said, tilting her head in Clarke's direction.

"I wasn't…" Clarke said, "I mean… I…"

"You so were." Octavia replied with a laugh, knowing that Clarke always stumbled over her words when she was nervous, "You know, for someone who claims they are straight you sure take a lot of interest in the female form."

"I just appreciate beauty…" Clarke said, her eyes travelling back to Lincoln's sister, Lexa.

"And she's certainly beautiful." Raven said with a laugh.

Clarke watched as Lincoln walked over to Lexa and said something quietly to her, something which caused the girl to roll her eyes as she marked the page in the book before closing it. Lexa then stood up and walked over to the counter where she picked up a coffee before she started walking over to their table.

"And she's heading this way…" Raven said.

"Coffee?" Lexa asked, as Raven and Octavia both pointed at Clarke, she put the drink on the table in front of her, "enjoy."

"Thanks…" Clarke replied, knowing that her cheeks were giving her away as she felt them starting to burn.

"Anything else you need?" Lexa asked them.

"Not right now thanks," Raven replied, "Lincoln mentioned you're starting Mount Weather in the fall."

"Yeah," Lexa replied with a nod, "senior year in a new school..."

"You'll have us to entertain you." Raven said with a laugh, "it'll be a blast. I'm Raven, this is Octavia, and the blonde sitting there admiring the coffee is Clarke."

Clarke's head shot up and she just glared at Raven.

"It's nice to meet you all." Lexa replied with a little laugh, "if you need anything else be sure to let me know."

"Will do." Octavia said with a smile.

With that Lexa walked away back to the counter. Raven and Octavia both started laughing.

"Seriously…" Clarke said, "like I wasn't embarrassed enough already."

"Why were you embarrassed Princess?" Raven asked, "She seems nice."

"And she also saw me looking at her…" Clarke said, "So now I feel like a total idiot."

"I don't think she minded it too much." Octavia replied, nudging Raven and motioning over to where Lexa was standing, her eyes straying in Clarke's direction.

"Something tells me she didn't mind it at all." Raven said as she and Octavia started laughing.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It wasn't long before the rest of the gang arrived at Ark Station. Lincoln had suggested they move towards the back of the building, there was more space there after all. The building got busier as the day wore on. Monty and Jasper were entertaining everyone with tales of Jaspers latest effort at home brewing alcohol. Apparently it had exploded in the garage, something his dad hadn't been too impressed with. Bellamy, Octavia's older brother, had noticed that Clarke was a little distracted. He got up and moved from the beanbag he was sitting on, dropping down next to the blonde girl.

"You okay there Princess?" he asked.

"Yeah," Clarke replied with a smile, "I'm good…"

"You seem a little distracted," he said, "something bothering you?"

"Something other than the cute girl." Octavia said with a laugh.

"When are you going to let that go?" Clarke asked.

"How about never?" Octavia asked in reply.

"Cute girl?" Bellamy asked, looking between his sister and Clarke.

"Lexa." Raven replied, "Clarke got a little… distracted earlier."

"But Clarke isn't into girls." Bellamy said.

"Clarke is sitting right here." Clarke replied, standing up and making her way through the beanbags around her.

"Where are you going Princess?" Raven called after her.

"I need some air." Clarke replied as she headed for the door.

She didn't notice that Lexa's eyes followed her as she left, but Raven certainly did and she wasted no time pointing it out to Octavia, which got her a bit of a look from Bellamy.

"She isn't into girls." He repeated.

"I think you may be wrong big brother." Octavia replied, "You didn't see the way she was looking at her."

Bellamy narrowed his eyes as he looked at the door which Clarke had not long exited through. The two of them had been getting on really well through-out the summer break, he had actually been building up to asking her out, but now all that seemed to be shot, especially if his sister and Raven were right.

Clarke made her way out onto the now nearly empty street, the cool evening air helping her clear her mind a little. She knew her friends were taking great enjoyment in how uncomfortable they were making her feel, and usually she'd just laugh it off, but something was different this time. Sure, she could always look at a woman and say how cute she was, usually when Raven was undressing someone with her eyes, but Lexa wasn't just cute. She really was the most captivating thing Clarke had ever seen. The blonde was having a hard time dealing with what she was feeling, as she'd only ever had those thoughts about guys. She'd flirted with girls, kissed a few when she was wasted, but she'd never really thought seriously about it. She figured it was her age, everyone gets curious at some point. Octavia had tested out her curiosity with Raven, and still was from time to time. Raven had always admitted that she liked guys as well as girls, though the guy thing came to a head with Finn. Raven had met him a few years before, during a summer when he was visiting the city with his folks and his dad dragged him along to the garage with him when their rental car broke down, the two had hit it off right away. A few months later he had transferred schools, moving to Mount Weather when his dad landed a new job in the city. Things hadn't worked out too well when Finn developed feelings for Clarke. She couldn't deny that she felt something for him too, but she would never go there with him while he was still with Raven. He had broken up with Raven, but still Clarke couldn't start anything with him. Her friendship with Raven was more important than any guy.

While she was standing outside getting some air and thinking, she heard the door open. She looked to see who it was, wanting nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow her whole when she saw that it was Lexa.

"You okay?" Lexa asked as she walked over to where Clarke was standing leaning against the wall.

"Yeah," Clarke replied, "just needed some air…"

"Your friends seem…" the brunette started, stopping herself as she tried to think of the right word.

"They're intense…" Clarke said, finishing her sentence.

"I was going to say nice," Lexa said with a laugh, "but intense works."

Clarke found herself laughing a long with the other girl, noticing how her laugh sounded like music to her ears.

"They tend to talk before they've engaged their brains." Clarke continued, "They're harmless though… most of the time."

"Lincoln mentioned that you're into art…" Lexa said, changing the subject, finding herself wanting to get to know a little bit more about the girl in front of her.

"Yeah…" Clarke replied with a little smile, "I'm hoping to get into an art school or something when I graduate."

"Oh yeah," Lexa said, "That's pretty cool. So do you draw, paint, what?"

"A little of everything," Clarke said, wondering why it felt so easy for her to talk to Lexa, "it depends on my mood really…"

"Do you sell your work?" Lexa asked, "My mom has space set up for a gallery here, and there's an art space upstairs, loads of light."

"I don't even show my work let alone sell it." Clarke said with a laugh, "I don't think it's good enough for actual people to see."

"How do you know if you don't show them?" Lexa asked.

Lexa was unable to take her eyes off Clarke as the blonde girl shrugged, she found it to be a very cute action.

"I've shown my parents." Clarke replied, "Well, it's more like I couldn't keep it from them, it being their house and all…"

"And what did they think?" the brunette asked as the leant back against the wall, lifting her right leg, placing her foot on the wall behind her.

"My dad loves it…" Clarke said with a little smile, "my mom thinks it's a waste of time."

"Why?" Lexa asked again, really hoping that she wasn't bugging Clarke with too many questions.

"She wants me to be a doctor…" the blonde girl asked with a sad smile, "or something that actually counts as a real job… she keeps reminding me that very few people can actually make a living selling their art…"

"Does it make you happy?" Lexa asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

"It makes me feel… I don't know," Clarke replied, "free, I guess. It's like when I'm painting, I can be me, not who someone else wants me to be…"

Her train of thought was interrupted when she saw a familiar figure walking towards them.

"Finn," she said with a smile as the boy neared them, "when did you get back?"

Lexa stepped away from Clarke as Finn pulled her into a hug, a hug which the blonde seemed very comfortable with.

"This morning," Finn replied, backing away a little, "Jasper left a message saying you guys would be here, thought I'd come down and check it out."

He looked at Lexa, before looking back at Clarke.

"Oh, sorry," Clarke said, "Finn, this is Lexa, her mom owns this place."

"It's nice to meet you." Finn said to Lexa, a smile on his face.

"You too," Lexa replied, her smile a little more forced than she would like, "I should get back inside…"

With that Lexa turned and walked back inside the building.

"I thought you were back tomorrow." Clarke said to Finn.

"Me too," he replied, "but my dad got a call, something that apparently couldn't wait, so here I am."

"Everyone's inside," she said, "come on."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Time seemed to pass a little quicker when Clarke went back inside with Finn. She had relaxed a little more, which she couldn't help but think had been down to her chat with Lexa. There was something about the girl which put her at ease, it was like there was no expectations, no pressure. Clarke didn't find it very easy talking to anyone about her art, other than maybe Raven and Octavia, but they didn't really count.

"So," Raven said, sitting down next to Clarke, "Lexa followed you outside?"

"We talked…" Clarke replied quietly, "she's… really nice actually."

"We knew that earlier," Raven said with a laugh, knowing that this conversation was to be kept between her and Clarke, which wasn't difficult as everyone else was getting pretty loud, "they're going to kick us out of here soon…"

"Jasper, get off the table!" Clarke shouted at her friend, noticing the looks that Jasper was getting from Lincoln and another girl, who she assumed was his other sister.

"Yeah Jasper," Raven said, "I'd rather you didn't get us kicked out of this place."

Jasper climbed down off the table and re-joined the group.

"Something tells me this isn't like other places…" Clarke said to her friend.

"It is pretty cool isn't it." Raven said looking around, "and Lincoln seems pretty nice…"

"Pretty nice?" Clarke asked, "You seemed okay with him earlier, what's going on?"

"Nothing," the other girl replied, "it's just… I don't know, I think there's something going on with him and Octavia, they've been flirting all night."

"And that's a problem?" Clarke asked with a laugh.

"No, of course not," Raven said with a sigh, "I just don't want to see her get hurt, he's older than us after all."

"Not by much," Clarke said, "he's what, early 20's…"

"But it's O…" Raven said.

"You can't keep her all to yourself forever Raven," the blonde replied, wrapping her arm around her friend's shoulder, pulling her closer, "not unless you actually label what's going on with you two."

"There's nothing going on." Raven said, a little too quickly for Clarke's liking.

"Yeah, of course not." The blonde said with a laugh.

"Whose turn is it to get the drinks?" Bellamy asked.

Everyone looked at Clarke.

"Okay, okay," she said, standing up, "same again?"

Everyone nodded and Clarke walked over to the counter.

"Same again all round?" Lincoln asked.

"Please." Clarke replied, as she started to look around a little.

"She's upstairs with Anya." Lincoln said as he noticed Clarke looking around, he laughed a little at the questioning look she gave him, "Lexa, she's upstairs with Anya."

"I wasn't…" Clarke started to say.

"Of course you weren't," Lincoln said with a knowing smile, "She's usually pretty uncomfortable around new people, other than when she's working and she has to be nice. If it was up to Lexa she'd have her nose stuck in a book all the time. She's been like that for as long as I can remember, my earliest memory of her is of her literally eating a book that my mom had given her, she was about 2 I think."

"Your earliest memory of your sister is from when she was 2?" Clarke asked, a little confused.

"My mom adopted her and Anya," Lincoln explained as he started to load the drinks onto the trays, "their parents were killed in some kind of attack, I don't know the details, it's not something that's ever talked about. But they're my family, blood or not."

Clarke nodded a little and looked towards the stairs as she heard Lexa arguing with someone.

"That's your reasoning for everything Anya," Lexa said as she walked down the stairs, "suck it up and see what happens."

"You're just scared of getting hurt again Lex," Anya replied, following her, "Live a little."

"I live plenty, thanks." Lexa replied, spotting Clarke over by the counter with Lincoln, "can we just drop it please."

"For now…" Anya replied, looking over at the blonde girl who had her sisters' attention.

"I'll help you carry these over," Lincoln said to Clarke, noticing that she wasn't paying any attention to him, "Clarke…?"

"Yeah," she said, looking at him, "sorry, I zoned out again didn't I…"

"Yes," he replied with a laugh, "I was just saying I'll help you carry these over."

"Thanks." Clarke replied, picking up one of the trays and carrying it very carefully back to the gang, Lincoln following behind her.

"You're the best Princess." Jasper said as he picked up his drink.

"Princess?" Lincoln asked.

"Nickname that's stuck since junior high." Clarke said with a laugh as she sat back down next to Raven.

"Lincoln," Octavia said, "we're all going out to the lake tomorrow, why don't you and Lexa come along."

"Yeah," Bellamy said, "it'll give her a chance to get to know this mad lot before school starts again, and with you there she might be a little more comfortable."

"I'll talk to her about it and get back to you," he said, "she's not much of a people person though."

"She seems to get on well enough with Clarke." Finn replied.

Clarke felt her cheeks start to burn again at the insinuation in Finns voice.

"Some people just click." Raven said, saving Clarke the trouble of having to think of an answer.

"And you know how friendly the Princess can be, when she wants to be." Octavia replied, "Well actually you don't, I mean not as friendly as you want her to be…"

Octavia was cut off when a cushion flew at her head, thrown by Finn, which caused everyone to laugh.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Lincoln made his way back over to the counter, collecting some empty cups and glasses along the way, he saw that his mom was there, talking to Lexa and Anya.

"We've been invited to hang out at the lake tomorrow Lex." He said with a smile as he started loading the dishwasher.

"By who?" Anya asked.

"The group who go to Mount Weather," Lincoln said, motioning over to the noisy group towards the back of the building, "they think it'd be cool if Lexa got to know them all before school starts."

"I don't think so…" Lexa said, turning her attention back to her book.

"I think it'd be good for you," Anya said, resting her hands on her sisters shoulders, "I mean you were worried about starting a new school, this way you'll have friends before you start there, it'll be less awkward."

"And they seem like a nice group of people," Lincoln replied, turning to look at his sisters, "plus I'll be there, it's not like you'll be on your own."

"We're supposed to be working tomorrow remember." Lexa replied, not looking up from her book.

"I'm sure Anya and I can cope without you both for one day," Indra said, "and Echo starts tomorrow, so we won't be short staffed."

"You really want to rely on a new person on a Saturday?" Lexa asked, "You've seen how busy we're getting. I think it'd be better if…"

"We'll cope Lex." Anya said, "It'll do you some good to get out of here, see a bit more of the city."

"Do I have a choice?" Lexa asked, looking up from her book to see her family all shake their heads.

"Clarke will be there." Lincoln replied.

The look that Lexa gave Lincoln would've made most people run and hide.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked with a small smile.

"Touchy subject." Anya replied with a little laugh.

"Who's Clarke?" Indra asked.

"The blonde one," Anya said motioning over to the group, "she's an artist apparently."

"Seriously, Anya," Lexa said, putting her book in her bag before she stood up, "I asked you to leave it…"

"And I will… I promise." Anya replied.

"Really sounds like it," Lexa said shaking her head a little, "I'm going to read upstairs, my shift is done."

Lexa walked around the counter and headed up the stairs. The upstairs was open to the public but nobody was sitting up there, it was quiet, just the way Lexa liked it.

"We really need to work on her people skills." Anya said with a laugh.

"Maybe she learnt them from you." Lincoln replied, ducking out of the way as a towel flew at his head.

"Do we really think it's a good idea?" Indra asked her kids, "I mean it wasn't that long ago that…"

"I know," Anya said with a sigh, "that's part of the reason we moved here remember. We can't protect her forever mom, she's 18, it's not like she's just never going to date again…"

"No matter how much she'd like it that way…" Lincoln said as he looked at the stairs his sister had walked up, "it's been 8 months since the accident, I think it'd do her good to meet someone new, and Clarke seems like a really nice girl."

"I think she's worried about anyone replacing Costia…" Anya said with a sigh, "Like she'd be betraying her or something…"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens." Indra replied as she looked over to the group of teenagers towards the back.

"I'll be there," Lincoln said, "just as I've always been there…"

Both Anya and Indra nodded a little, before Anya motioned to the group.

"Think she's going to go upstairs?" she asked as Clarke stood up.

"Maybe…" Lincoln replied, before the blonde headed towards them.

"Hey," Anya said with a smile as Clarke walked over, "anything we can get you?"

"I was just wondering if… I mean, if it's open to the public…" Clarke started to say, kicking herself for her inability to form an actual sentence.

"Go on up," Indra said with a little smile, "Just don't expect her to talk too much."

Clarke nodded a little before she turned and walked up the stairs.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As Clarke made her way up the stairs she suddenly started to feel nervous and she had no idea why, she actually had no idea why she felt the need to go upstairs to talk to Lexa anyway. She had seen the way the other girl had walked away from her family, she knew it wasn't a happy thing. Clarke was curious about whether Lincoln had talked to Lexa about going to the lake, and whether that's what was causing the issues. Part of her wanted to reassure Lexa that if she didn't want to go to the lake then it was fine, they'd all hang out there the next time they were there at Ark Station if that was better for her. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to be upstairs, Lexa had told her it was an art space with a lot of light, but she certainly wasn't expecting what she found. The whole of the ceiling was glass, Clarke noticed there were blinds over the glass but they hadn't been pulled down. Dotted around the room were plants, some the size of small trees, the area itself was huge. As she looked up again she saw the fairy lights strung across the length of the room, with others zigzagging from the sides, it was like having stars in the room. She saw a single easel standing in the corner of the room, like it was just waiting to be used. In the far corner of the room she saw Lexa sitting in an oversized chair, her legs pulled up to her chest as she sat sideways on in the chair reading her book. Her breath caught in her chest at the sight. She knew that Lexa hadn't heard her coming up the stairs, so she cleared her throat a little, letting the other girl know she was there.

"Hey…" Lexa said, putting in her page marker before resting the book on the arm of the chair.

"Hey," Clarke replied, walking further into the space, she didn't think the word room was appropriate for a space like this, "this is… wow…"

She looked around again, not noticing Lexa watch her, a small smile ghosting her lips.

"It actually turned out better that I hoped," Lexa said as she stood up, "I had these images in my head of what I wanted this part of the building to look like, and this is pretty much it…"

"This was you?" Clarke asked, noticing that Lexa's book had fallen open on the arm of the chair, it was at that moment she saw the place marker, a photograph.

"Yeah," she replied, "mom gave us each a section, Anya had the café itself, Lincoln took the section that you and your friends were sitting in, and this was my bit… she wants us to all feel a connection to this place, as it was pretty hard for us all to move…"

There was something in her voice that let Clarke know that it was harder for her than the others, but she didn't want to push it.

"Where did you move from?" Clarke asked.

"Vegas…" Lexa replied with a small smile, "that's where Anya and I were born, Lincoln was born in San Diego before mom moved… did he tell you about our unconventional family unit?"

"He mentioned it, yeah," Clarke said with a nod, "but he also said that you're both his family, blood or not."

She noticed Lexa swallow as she nodded a little, like she was trying to keep her emotions in check.

"I don't remember my parents," she said, "Indra adopted me and Anya when I was a year and a half old, so all I've ever known is Indra, Lincoln, me and Anya… Anya has told me a few little things, but I think it's hard for her to remember…"

"That's understandable," Clarke replied, not pushing the subject, "so, what was your influence for this room?"

"That's like asking an artist what made them draw or paint a certain thing," Lexa said with a laugh, which caused Clarke to laugh a little as well as she realised the other girl was right, "I used to go camping a lot, with friends from school, I love being outdoors…"

Clarke noticed how Lexa was now walking slowly around the room, she saw how the girl ran her hands over the plants and small trees as she talked. As Lexa passed the chair she had earlier been sat in, her leg brushed the book, knocking it off the arm of the chair. As the book fell the photograph seemed to float on the air, making its way closer to Clarke, dropping in front of her. She could see a beautiful girl looking up at her from the picture, it was obvious to her from the wear around the edges and on the corners that it was a photograph which had been held a lot, looked at a lot. She bent down to pick up the picture, noticing the look on Lexa's face, the sadness that was now in those green eyes.

"Wow…" Clarke said as she looked at the image in her hands, "she's beautiful…"

"Costia," Lexa said, her voice cracking slightly, "her name is… was Costia…"

Clarke slowly walked over to Lexa and held the photograph out to her, she saw how the other girl's hand started to shake as she reached for it.

"She and I…" Lexa continued, "We…"

"You don't have to tell me…" Clarke replied as Lexa took the photograph from her.

"I think I was about 7 when we met…" Lexa said as she walked back over to the chair and sat down, looking down at the picture in her hands, "I was playing in the backyard with Lincoln, we were playing ball… the ball went over the fence, so I climbed up to see if I could get it without having to go around and bother the new neighbours… Costia was standing there holding the ball… we hung out a lot after that, went to the same school… then when we were 13, we were… we were having a sleepover at her place, Indra was working and Lincoln and Anya were both at friends… and she asked me if I could keep a secret, and then she told me that she thought she liked girls…"

Clarke laughed softly at the image she had in her mind, which caused Lexa to smile a little as she looked at her.

"I told her that I knew I liked girls," she said with a smile, "and that I liked her… and…then, 8 months ago, she was on her way back home after a trip with her family… a drunk driver smashed into their car…"

"Lexa, I'm so sorry…" Clarke said quietly as she saw the tears building in Lexa's eyes.

"She, er… she died," Lexa said, continuing on with her story, "and they never caught the guy. Indra had been thinking for a while how she wanted to come back to New York, how it would be a great place for me to go to school, so one day she just decided to buy this place. Told us all one night that we were moving. I didn't want to move… you know, I…"

"Wanted to stay close to her…" Clarke said as she leant against the wall, her soft gaze locked on the other girl, wondering how one person could deal with so much pain and still seem so together.

"Yeah," she said with a nod, "but her brother decided to talk to me about it, telling me that Costia wouldn't want me to just… stop. So we moved, did this place up, and here I am… I've never told anyone that before…"

"Well I'm glad you told me…" Clarke said quietly.

"So am I…" Lexa replied with a small smile as she put the photograph back into her book, before standing up and placing it on the seat of the chair, "so, tell me what's going to happen tomorrow…"

"The lake?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah," Lexa said with a nod, "apparently we're all going to hang out."

"And don't you sound thrilled about it." Clarke said with a laugh.

"I'm not really a people person…" Lexa said, "I used to be, but…"

"You don't have to come," Clarke said, "we just thought it would be nice for you to hang with us before school starts, have some people you actually know… Well it was Octavia's idea, I think she has a thing for your brother."

"We can add her name to the list then," Lexa replied with a laugh, "he's got a way with the ladies… he's a bit of charmer."

"I noticed." Clarke said with a laugh of her own.

"So who else is going to be there?" Lexa asked, "You, Octavia, Lincoln, me…"

"Bellamy, Octavia's older brother, Raven will be there," Clarke said, thinking about just who was going to be there, "Monty and Jasper… Harper will probably be there, if she can drag herself away from the puppy her dad just got her… Finn…"

"Are you and he… er…" Lexa said.

"Finn?" Clarke asked with an odd smile on her face, she shook her head as Lexa nodded a little, "no… no. He's Raven's ex, so no, we're not."

"And if he wasn't Raven's ex?" Lexa asked.

"I don't know," Clarke said, thinking about it, "He's great guy, but… I don't know. As he is her ex, there's really no point putting too much thought into it."

"That's true." Lexa replied, "Do we need to bring anything tomorrow?"

"Just yourselves," Clarke said, "maybe a swimsuit, we tend to mess around in the lake, but that's not a must. There'll be food, like a barbeque thing that Bellamy is doing, if you don't want to eat that, then bring something else… other than that, nope."

"Okay…" Lexa said with a smile and a slight nod.

"So you're going to come?" Clarke asked, fighting to keep the smile from her lips.

"Yeah," Lexa said with a nod, "yeah, I'll be there…"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Lincoln," Octavia said as she walked over to the counter, "have you seen Clarke?"

"She's upstairs," Lincoln replied, "talking to Lexa I think."

"She is so whipped." Octavia said with a laugh, "you know something, she thinks she's straight…"

"And you don't think so?" Lincoln asked as he put the cloth down that he was cleaning the counter with, resting his arms on the counter and leaning closer to where Octavia was standing.

"Nope," Octavia replied, popping the p a little as she smiled at him, "I've seen the way she's been looking at your sister, and not to weird you out or anything, but that's not the way a straight girl looks at another girl."

"It's going to be hard work if she's into Lexa." Lincoln said.

"If who's into Lexa?" Anya asked, walking over to where her brother was standing.

"Octavia, this is Anya, my other sister," he said, "Anya, this is Octavia."

"Nice to meet you," Octavia said with a smile and a nod, "Raven really was right about your family having good genes."

"We're not actually genetically related." Anya said.

"Oh…" Octavia said, as she looked back at her friends, "Well, sometimes the family you choose is stronger than the family you're born with, right."

"Right." Anya said with a little smile.

"Can you let Clarke know we're leaving, I think Raven is giving her a lift home and I don't want to go up there and…" she started to say, "interrupt… anything…"

"I'll go and let her know." Anya said, patting Lincoln on the back, "you two exchange numbers or something before I puke…"

With that she walked up the stairs, her footfalls getting louder as she walked up, just to let them know that she was coming. The sight that met her when she reached the top of the stairs made her smile. Clarke and Lexa were sitting against the wall, laughing about something.

"Speak of the devil…" Lexa said, fighting another laugh as it escaped her.

As much as it bugged her that her sister was talking about her, it warmed her to see her laughing again.

"I was just telling Clarke about the time you thought it would be funny to jump from the treehouse into the pool." Lexa explained.

"Certainly not one of my finer moments," Anya said laughing a little, "your friends are leaving Clarke, and Octavia said something about Raven giving you a lift home."

"Thanks…" Clarke said with a smile as she stood up before she looked back at Lexa, who stayed sitting on the floor, "I'll guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah…" Lexa said with a smile, "I guess you will."

"We usually get there about midday," Clarke said, "so any time from then onwards will be fine."

Lexa just nodded a little as Clarke walked back downstairs. She rolled her eyes as Anya arched her eyebrow slightly as she looked at her.

"Not a word…" Lexa said, a warning tone in her voice.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Anya said honestly, "but it's good to see you laughing again kid…"

Lexa took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Anya turned and walked back downstairs, she put her head back a little and looked up at the stars through the glass.

Everyone said their goodbyes outside Ark Station, heading off into their separate vehicles for their journeys home. Clarke noticed that Raven and Octavia were having a bit of a heated discussion, she walked over to them at the same time that Bellamy noticed and made his way over to the girls.

"I don't see what your fucking problem is." Octavia said.

"That's part of the problem," Raven said, "You just don't see it…"

"So talk to me." Octavia replied, getting more and more frustrated.

"It doesn't matter," Raven said with a sigh as she turned to Clarke, "you ready to go?"

"Sure…" Clarke said as she watched Raven stalk off towards her car, she looked at Octavia, a questioning look in her eyes.

"She has a problem with Lincoln." Octavia said to her.

"No, I think the problem is you and Lincoln, O," Clarke said with a small smile, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

As she was walking away she heard Bellamy call her.

"Hey, Princess," he called, she turned back and looked at him, "is Lexa coming tomorrow?"

"I think so," Clarke replied, "I mean she said she would."

She noticed a change in his eyes as he nodded, Clarke sighed a little as she turned away and walked towards Raven's car, she knew that look, it was the same look Raven had given Octavia.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

As she woke up she checked her phone, it was just gone 9am, way too early for Clarke to be awake when she wasn't at school. Usually she wouldn't be awake until 10:30 or later, even then they were going out to the lake. Instead of turning over and trying to go back to sleep she decided to get up, checking the weather outside she smiled a little, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. This was going to be a good day.

Leaving the bathroom she heard her phone ding, letting her know she had a text message. As she picked her phone up from her bedside table she sat down on the side of her bed.

 **Octavia** (09:15) crisis time Princess.

Smiling to herself she typed out the reply to send to Octavia.

'What's up O?' she typed before hitting send. It didn't take Octavia long to reply.

 **Octavia** (09:15) I don't know what to wear. I mean if it was just us guys I'd know what to wear but…

Clarke couldn't contain the laugh that escaped her chest, Octavia was nervous. Octavia Blake was never nervous. The girl was stunning, and she knew it. 'Wear whatever you want to wear, I don't think Lincoln is going to mind' she replied, putting her phone on her bed as she remembered that she needed to decide what she was going to wear. When she didn't get a reply from Octavia she figured that the younger girl realised that she was right, Lincoln wasn't going to care what she was wearing. A thought did cross her mind though, Raven might mind. She had no idea what was going on with Raven and Octavia, from what Bellamy had told her the girls had been spending pretty much every waking, and most sleeping, moments together over the break. Clarke knew that to be true as when they met up the two girls were always together. Raven had a tough upbringing, her mother had pretty much abandoned her at a young age, choosing drink and drugs over her daughter, so Raven had been looking out for herself for a long time. Octavia was the family she never had, but Clarke couldn't help but think that it was a little more than that for her. She made a mental note to talk to Raven out at the lake, just to see if she could figure this all out before her best friends destroyed what they had. But all that seemed to vanish from her mind as the smell of fresh coffee drifted under her door. Smiling to herself she grabbed her phone and went downstairs.

Clarke was a little surprised to see both her parents in the kitchen, it was Saturday, her mother usually worked. Her mother worked most days, and those days that she didn't she was always on call. It was like she was a doctor first and a mother second, and as much as it hurt Clarke it was something that the blonde girl had grown used to.

"You're up early." Her father said as he looked at her with a smile.

"Couldn't sleep," Clarke replied, moving to pour herself a coffee, but her mom beat her to it, "thanks…"

Abby smiled in reply as Clarke took the mug of coffee.

"Anything planned for today?" Abby asked as Clarke sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

"We're hanging out at the lake." Clarke replied.

"Will you all be drinking?" Abby asked, her usual concern evident in her voice.

"Maybe," Clarke replied with a shrug, "I don't know. I think Jasper will be bringing his usual toxic sh… stuff with him."

"Make sure that…" Abby started to say.

"I eat something and that I'm very clear about who my designated driver is." Clarke interrupted, completing the sentence that she had heard from her mom so many times in the past, "I know."

"Is Bellamy going to be there?" her mom asked.

"Yes," Clarke replied, "he's the one who is doing the barbequing again, as no one got food poisoning last time."

Jake laughed a little as he looked up from his laptop screen. He knew that his wife wasn't too keen on the older Blake boy, thinking he was too old for their daughter. But he knew that Clarke was sensible and wouldn't get involved in any kind of relationship with anyone she didn't want to.

"Did you kids go to that new café yesterday?" he asked, remembering that Clarke had mentioned something about it a few days before.

"Dad, you should see that place," Clarke said, her face lighting up a little, "it's amazing. It has an art space upstairs which is like being in the middle of a forest or something, and the family that run it are really great people. Lexa is starting Mount Weather in the fall."

"Lexa?" Abby asked.

"Her mom owns Ark Station, the café…" Clarke replied.

"And she's going to be in your classes?" Abby asked in reply.

"I don't know," Clarke said with a shrug, "maybe."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The rest of the morning had passed pretty quickly and it wasn't long before Raven had stopped by to pick her up. Clarke had been bugging her parents to get her a car of her own, she knew her dad was close to caving, she just had to work on her mom. As they arrived out by the lake Octavia, Bellamy, Finn and Harper were already there, setting everything up. Raven parked her car next to Bellamy's and the two of them walked over to the group.

"I was thinking," Finn said as he handed Raven a drink, "does Lincoln know where he's going? I mean this is a pretty big place."

"Yeah," Octavia said as she grabbed a beer, "I text him directions this morning."

Clarke noticed the look on Raven's face as Octavia mentioned texting Lincoln.

"You okay there Reyes?" she asked, nudging her friend a little.

"Yeah," Raven said with a forced smile, "top of the world… remind me again why I always have to be the driver…"

"Because it's your car and you won't let anyone else drive it?" Finn asked with a smile.

Raven had spent the previous summer working on her car, it was her pride and joy and Finn was right when he said she wouldn't let anyone else drive it. It wasn't long before they heard more cars approaching. Clarke's attention was drawn to the black Mustang that pulled up next to Raven's car, she knew Raven would be looking at it as well, the other girl loved muscle cars. The blonde nearly dropped her drink when she saw who stepped out of the driver's side.

"Nice wheels Lexa…" Raven said as she stood up and walked over to the car.

"It was my 18th present." Lexa said with a small smile.

"Your mom got you a car for your 18th?" Octavia asked.

"No," Lexa replied with a laugh, "Lincoln did."

"Bellamy, do you want to get me a car for my 18th?" Octavia asked her brother, only partly joking.

"You can't even drive O." Bellamy said with a laugh.

"Another reason for you to get me a car," Octavia said with a grin, "then Raven can teach me to drive."

"I am not teaching you to drive," Raven replied, laughing, "me and you in a stressful situation like that, I see something going boom, and it'd probably be my head."

Clarke was stuck between looking at Lexa and looking at her car. The brunette was wearing a pair of denim shorts and a loose t-shirt which hung down on one shoulder.

"You catching flies there Princess?" Octavia asked as she leaned closer to Clarke.

"Huh?" Clarke asked looking at her.

Octavia just laughed as she grabbed a couple of beers and walked over to Lincoln and Lexa, offering them both a can.

"I er…" Lexa said, looking at the drink, "I'm driving."

"Good point," Octavia replied, "more for me."

Lexa laughed a little as she walked closer to where the group was sitting, making her way over to where Clarke was. The blonde girl shifted over a little, making room on the mat she had taken with her so Lexa could sit.

"I'll get you a soft drink." Clarke said with a little smile as she stood up.

"Thanks…" Lexa replied with a smile of her own.

Neither girl noticed that both Bellamy and Finn were looking at them, as if they both seemed very interested by the interaction. After she had got Lexa a drink Clarke went and sat back down, laughing a little as the other girl got her book out of her bag.

"What?" Lexa asked as she looked at the blonde.

"Do you carry that thing everywhere with you?" she asked.

"It's her security blanket." Lincoln said with a laugh as he sat down near the pair.

"I like to read." Lexa said with a sigh, "will it make you both happy if I put it in the car?"

They both nodded and Lexa shook her head a little as she stood up and took the book to the car, putting it on the passenger seat before she re-joined the group.

"Better?" she asked, looking at Clarke.

"Much." The blonde replied.

"So, Lexa," Finn said, as he dropped down next to Clarke, resting his arm on the log behind her, "any idea what classes you're going to be in yet?"

"Er, no." she replied, Finn's actions not lost on her, "not yet. I don't think I'm going to find out until I get there."

He nodded a little.

"Well Clarke here is the only one of us who takes art, which I think is the way she likes it," he said, his hand dropping down onto Clarke's shoulder, "Raven takes mechanics…"

"Ever need your car fixed, I'm your go-to girl." Raven replied with a little smile, noticing how uncomfortable Finn was making both Clarke and Lexa, "Finn, can you help me with the sound-system please."

"You don't need any…" he started to say, stopping himself when he realised that it hadn't been a request, "sure."

He stood up and walked with Raven over to her car. As he walked away Clarke let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"He certainly seems interested." Lexa says quietly as she watches Bellamy make a start on the barbeque.

"He can be a total dick sometimes…" Clarke replied.

"If he were a dog, and you were a tree, he would have totally just peed up your leg…" Lexa said.

Clarke can't stop the laugh as it bubbles up in her chest.

"Shame I'm not his territory to mark huh." Clarke replies continuing to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Octavia asked as she sat down.

Clarke noticed that Octavia had chosen to sit next to Lexa, something that the other girl was a little surprised by.

"Finn…" Lexa said.

"Ah," Octavia laughed, "he can't get the hint huh. I remember the conversation where Clarke told him she wasn't interested, you remember Princess?"

"Yep," the blonde replied, "it ended with Raven's fist connecting with his face."

"How are they still friends?" Lexa asked.

"You're not friends with any of your ex's?" Octavia asked, obviously having no idea about Lexa's past.

"Er… no." Lexa replied, as she looked down at her hands, Clarke could see her jaw clench a little.

"Did I just totally stick my foot in my mouth?" the younger girl asked, looking between Clarke and Lexa.

Clarke didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say. Lexa's story wasn't hers to tell, the story of Costia was one she had been privileged to hear, but it was up to Lexa if she shared that with Octavia.

"I have like one ex…" Lexa said, "and she isn't an ex by choice… she… passed away 8 months ago."

"Shit…" Octavia replied, mentally kicking herself, "I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"It's okay," Lexa said swallowing hard, "it's… excuse me."

Clarke watched as the green eyes which she so enjoyed getting lost in started to cloud over as Lexa stood up.

"Lexa…" she said.

"I just need a minute…" Lexa replied as she walked to her car.

Clarke and Octavia sat in silence for a few moments, neither one knowing what to say.

"She told you?" Octavia asked, looking over at Clarke.

"Yeah," Clarke replied with a nod, "last night… drunk driver smashed into her girlfriend's parent's car…"

"That's some seriously heavy shit…" Octavia said quietly.

"What's the matter with Lexa?" Lincoln asked, Clarke could tell he was in big brother mode.

"Costia…" Clarke said as she looked at him.

She saw as he looked at Lexa's car, torn between giving his sister the space she had obviously asked for, and going to be her superhero. He moved to walk towards the car, Clarke stood up and grabbed his wrist softly.

"Give her a little time Lincoln," she said, "she'll be okay…"

He nodded a little as Clarke dropped his wrist, neither of them had noticed Lexa watching them from her car. Nobody had managed to stop him going after her before, he had been her rock when Costia died, all she had to do was turn around and he was there. She shook her head a little as she considered the fact that maybe these people wouldn't be so bad, she would actually be able to let them in, she would actually be able to let her in.

"Yo," Jasper shouted over to Clarke and Octavia, "soccer time, you girls in?"

"I'll pass." Clarke said with a laugh as she saw Octavia stand up.

"I'm in." Octavia replied, "How many do we have per-side?"

She looked around, noticing they could have a 5 a-side game if they had two more players.

"Lincoln?" she asked.

"Sure." He replied with a little nod.

"Now we need one more." She said as she noticed Lexa get out of her car again.

"She hasn't played in 8 months…" Lincoln said quietly to Octavia, "she's good though…"

"Lexa," Octavia said as the other girl made her way back over to them, "we're playing 5 a-side, you in?"

Clarke could see her thinking about it as she sat back down again, watching as Lexa looked at Lincoln.

"As long as I'm not on his team," Lexa replied, a smirk on her lips, "he really can't play, and I don't like to lose."

Clarke laughed as she watched her friends start to play. She felt the need to do something she hadn't done in a while around her friends, she took out her sketch pad. She carried it everywhere with her, just in case inspiration hit and she needed to sketch out an idea. So as her friends were laughing and joking around she started to draw. The only thing that she could draw was what was in her mind at that moment. Concentrating as the eyes came into focus on the page in front of her. She looked up as she heard Bellamy start yelling about a goal, apparently Lincoln hadn't been joking when he said Lexa was good. By the time the game was finished, Octavia's team winning 10-2, Clarke had finished the drawing.

"Did the Princess actually draw in front of us?" Murphy asked as he grabbed hold of Clarke's sketch book before she realised what was going on, "you are seriously whipped Griffin."

Clarke felt her anger start to boil up inside her, she hated people looking at her work at the best of times, but she hated it even more when she hadn't given them permission to do so.

"Give that back." She said, standing up.

Murphy passed the book to Raven, who looked between the drawing and Lexa, noticing how her friend had got every single feature on Lexa's face perfect.

"Clarke this is…" she started to say, before Octavia took it off her.

"Shit damn…" she said.

"Yeah, yeah," Clarke replied, "laugh it up…"

She turned and walked into the trees as quickly as she could.

"Clarke!" she heard Lexa call after her.

"Leave her," Murphy said, "or you could always follow her, I mean maybe that's what she wants, it was you that she was drawing after all."

Lexa looked at him as Bellamy handed her Clarke's sketch book. Looking back up at her was a picture of herself, laughing, looking like she didn't have a care in the world.

"I'll go and get her." Raven said, looking at Murphy, "you're a dick."

"Wait…" Lexa said to Raven, closing the book, "I'll go…"

"You might not want to be dealing with her right now Lexa," Raven replied, "she's angry, when she's angry she's seriously not a nice person to be around."

"I'll go." Lexa said again as she started to walk in the direction that Clarke had gone.

It didn't take her long to find the blonde girl, she was sitting on a log in a clearing and Lexa could tell just by the way that she was sitting that she didn't want to be around anyone. Lexa knew that she put out the same vibes herself when she was pissed off. Slowly she walked over to where Clarke was sitting, knowing that the other girl would know she was there, but Clarke didn't look at her. Lexa took that as a sign that she wasn't about to get her head bitten off and she sat down on the log next to Clarke.

"Have you come to poke fun too…?" Clarke said quietly.

"I came to return this…" Lexa replied, holding out the book.

Clarke nodded a little as she took the book from Lexa.

"I didn't…" Clarke started to say, "I just draw what comes into my head…"

"I came into your head?" Lexa asked, as she looked at the girl next to her.

"I'm an artist…" Clarke said with a shrug, "your eyes are…"

"You're really talented Clarke," Lexa said, standing up as she realised her being there was probably making Clarke even more uncomfortable than she had been, "it's a gift, you shouldn't hide it away…"

She started to walk back to where the others were.

"Lexa…" Clarke said.

"Yeah." Lexa replied, turning back to face the other girl.

"Thank you…" Clarke said, "For bringing the book back… and not… freaking out."

"Why would I freak out Clarke?" she asked, walking back towards the blonde.

"Cause it's weird," Clarke replied, shrugging a little as she looked down at the sketch book in her hands, "I mean you've known me for a day, and I just drew a picture of you…"

"You've seen Ark Station right," Lexa said with a laugh, "I'm used to being around creative people Clarke… and, like I said, you're really talented…"

"So are you," Clarke said, looking up at her, "on the soccer field, where was that talent hiding."

Lexa rubbed the back of her neck as she sat back down next to Clarke.

"I used to play," Lexa said, "back in Vegas… I played for the school, captain of the team, leading goal scorer…"

"So what happened?" Clarke asked.

"Costia…" Lexa replied with a small laugh, "She used to come to all my games… all the practices… everything. When she… I just didn't feel like playing anymore. I had scouts from colleges wanting to come and watch me play, but I just didn't feel like it anymore. It stopped being fun. It just became another memory I didn't want… another reminder that she wasn't there anymore…"

"When you went back to your car earlier," Clarke said, "Lincoln went into big brother mode."

"He does that a lot," Lexa replied, "if it wasn't for him, and Anya and mom, I don't think I would've got through it… she was everything to me. We would see each other every day, most nights I would either be at her house, or she'd be at mine… everything that we did was always connected in some way with the other person…"

"That must be nice…" Clarke said quietly, so quietly that Lexa almost missed it.

"It was," she replied, "but she's gone…"

Clarke didn't say anything as Lexa let out a long deep breath.

"I have to start living for me again…" she concluded.

"We have a school soccer team you know," Clarke said with a small smile, "Octavia plays… you know she's going to be bugging you to try out."

"One step at a time, Princess." Lexa replied, with a smile of her own.

Clarke laughed at her use of the nickname.

"What is with that nickname?" Lexa asked, "not that I don't think it suits you or anything, it's just…"

"When I was in junior high," Clarke said, ignoring the implications of what Lexa had just said, in the hopes of stopping the redness that was currently building on Lexa's face, "my dad dropped me off one day, Raven and Octavia heard him call me Princess… it kind of stuck."

"I take it you and your father are close?" Lexa asked.

"Yeah," Clarke replied, "my mom is at work a lot, and even when she's not it's like she is… she's head of ER so she's always on call. My dad is always there when I need him, no matter how busy he is…"

Clarke heard branches break in the trees behind them.

"We're not alone…" she said quietly to Lexa.

"Oh I know," Lexa said with a laugh, "it's Raven, Octavia, Bellamy and Lincoln…"

Clarke looked behind her and she saw that Lexa was exactly right.

"How did you know it was them?" Clarke asked as she looked at Lexa.

"I don't know," Lexa replied with a laugh, "they've been there for the last few minutes though…"

The four of them walked over to where Clarke and Lexa were sitting, they all sat on the ground near the log.

"I hear you drew a picture of my sister…" Lincoln said with a small smile as he looked at Clarke, "can I see it?"

Lexa noticed Clarke tense up again, she just hoped she wasn't going to run off.

"Come on Princess," Octavia said, "everyone else has already seen it."

Clarke could feel Lexa looking at her, she turned her head and saw the small smile that was on Lexa's lips. With a sigh and a shake of her head Clarke handed the book to Lincoln who very carefully opened it and looked at the picture. His face dropped.

"It's just a… top of my head thing… I…" Clarke started to say, thinking that he didn't like it, when her thoughts couldn't be further from the truth.

As he looked at the picture he remembered all those times when Lexa was growing up that she would just laugh, sometimes for no reason at all. She used to be so free, then after the accident, after Costia died, she closed off, to everyone around her. If he didn't know any better, Lincoln would think he was looking at a grayscale photograph of his sister, not something that Clarke had drawn in a little over an hour.

"This is amazing Clarke," he said as he looked at her before looking down at the drawing again, "I can think of someone who would love this…"

He looked at Lexa with a smile.

"Mom." They both said together.

"How much do you want for it?" Lincoln asked as he looked at Clarke again.

"Nothing," Clarke replied shaking her head, still not looking at him, "you can have it, if you want it…"

"How about free drinks at Ark Station tonight?" Raven asked with a smirk, "for everyone, all night."

"Sounds fair to me." Lexa replied with a nod, "Clarke?"

"Sure…" the blonde girl said as she looked at Lexa.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

They had all agreed to meet up at Ark Station later that night, Lexa had mentioned that it was Open Mic night so the vibe would be a little different to how it had been the previous night, meaning there would be no climbing on the table from Jasper.

Clarke had spent the hour and a half between getting home and leaving for the Ark, stressing about what she was going to wear. She had text Octavia to ask her and the younger girl replied with 'white tank, ripped blue jeans, black leather jacket, oh and leave your hair down Princess'. She was pretty sure that Octavia knew the contents of her closet better than she did. Bellamy had picked her up, apparently Raven was going to be running a little late. As soon as she had got in the car she saw the smile on Octavia's face along with the younger girl telling her she looked hot.

When they arrived at Ark Station, Clarke noticed that a lot of their friends were already there, sitting around in what she was sure would be their usual spot, though a few of them were actually sitting at the tables. Lincoln had told them that he would bring the drinks over once they were sitting down, obviously planning to stick to the arrangement that he and Lexa had made with Raven earlier that day. Clarke was a little disappointed that she didn't see Lexa around when they got there, if Lincoln had noticed her looking around he didn't say anything this time, maybe his sister wouldn't be there at all. As the evening wore on, still with no sign of Lexa, Clarke found herself really enjoying Open Mic night. Some of the music was a bit rubbish, but some of it was amazing, and it showed her yet another reason why she loved New York. She had said on many occasion that some of the buskers who played throughout the city were better than the music that was in the charts, and this night just proved that. She was laughing at something that Octavia was saying when she felt someone walk up behind her, a now familiar scent reached her. Lexa. She kept her eyes on the stage as she felt Lexa place a hand on her shoulder before she leant in.

"Can I steal you for a second?" Lexa asked.

Clarke looked at Octavia and Bellamy. The younger girl was too busy talking to Lincoln, but Bellamy motioned for her to go, indicating that he'd save her seat for her. As Clarke stood up, Octavia looked up and noticed as Lexa's eyes travelled the length of Clarke's body, the younger girl mentally high fived herself for her outfit choice. Something else that didn't go unnoticed by Octavia was the slight redness that reached Lexa's cheeks when she knew that she'd been caught. As Clarke walked away with Lexa, Octavia laughed a little.

"What?" Bellamy asked.

"Are you telling me you didn't see that?" Octavia asked in reply.

"See what?" the older boy asked again.

"Lexa looking like she wouldn't mind eating Clarke for breakfast," Raven said as she finished the remainder of her drink, "I saw it."

"Are you two still going on about that…?" Bellamy said with a sigh.

"Hate to break it to you big brother," Octavia replied, reaching over and patting her brother on the arm playfully, "but I think that ship has sailed for you."

"As long as she's happy I don't care." He said.

"You really mean that don't you?" Raven asked as she looked at him.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, "she's a great girl, and she deserves to be happy."

"You are full of surprises Bellamy Blake." Raven said with a little smile.

"Oh god no…" Octavia said, looking like she was about to gag, "Raven, he's my brother."

Raven didn't say anything, she just shrugged her shoulders.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"What's the matter?" Clarke asked Lexa as they walked down the corridor behind the counter.

"Why would anything be the matter?" Lexa asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I didn't see you here earlier, and…" Clarke started to say, realising how stupid she probably sounded she stopped herself, "never mind…"

"I had a few things I needed to take care of at home." Lexa replied, her heart racing a little at the idea that Clarke had missed her, "did you miss me?"

Instead of answering the question, Clarke just laughed a little, feeling her face start to burn. She felt Lexa's hand on her lower back.

"You're cute when you blush…" the brunette said quietly, causing Clarke to swallow as her mouth suddenly went dry, "this is it."

They stopped in front of a door and Lexa knocked.

"Why do I feel like I've been called to the Principles office?" Clarke asked as they waited, which just caused Lexa to laugh.

"Yes." Came the call from inside, and Lexa opened the door, indicating for Clarke to walk in ahead of her.

Lexa closed the door behind them, and Clarke found herself looking around. Figuring out pretty quickly that this must have been the office. She saw pictures hanging on the wall, framed family photos of Lincoln, Anya and Lexa.

"Mom, this is Clarke." Lexa said to the woman sitting behind the desk, a woman that she had seen the night before, "Clarke this is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, officially…" Clarke said, as she saw Anya sitting on the leather sofa that ran along the side wall, "Hi Anya."

The other girl just nodded a little in reply.

"Earlier this evening my kids gave me a gift," Indra said, standing up from the desk, "one of the most beautiful drawings I've ever seen, and I believe that you're the artist."

"Er… yeah." Clarke replied, not really understanding what was happening.

"I understand that you wouldn't accept payment…" Indra continued.

"Well, I think we're kinda killing your profits for tonight," Clarke said with a little shrug, "Free bar tab…"

She heard Lexa laugh a little from where she was standing, leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Have you ever thought about turning your art into your profession?" the older woman asked, looking at Clarke.

"Yeah, one day, maybe," the blonde replied, "I'm thinking about trying to get into an art school when I graduate…"

"An art school will destroy the natural gifts you have, Clarke," Indra said shaking her head a little, "they will strip it all back and start again, turning them into the artist they want you to be, rather than the artist you already are. A good friend of mine owns a prominent gallery downtown, I'm going to ask him to come and look at your work, if that's okay with you."

Clarke's head started swimming with thoughts, she enjoyed her art, but she hadn't really considered anyone else liking it. Obviously she had dreams of having her own gallery one day, but she didn't think that would be for a very long time, after all, as her mother had said, it's very rare for anyone to actually make a living selling their art. She felt Lexa move up behind her again, as once again the girl placed her hand on the small of the blonde's back.

"Breathe Clarke…" Lexa said, "I don't think she wants an answer right now."

Indra looked at Anya, wondering if her daughter was seeing what she was. It had been a long time since they had seen Lexa being this way with anyone, the last person was Costia. Anya smiled a little, letting her mom know she saw it. She'd already noticed a change in Lexa, in the 24 hours since Clarke Griffin came into her life, she knew that Lincoln had seen it as well.

"Can I…" Clarke started to say as she swallowed again, "can I get back to you?"

"Of course." Indra replied with a smile.

"Thanks." Clarke said with a nod.

She heard Lexa open the door again. She turned to leave, not noticing the look that Anya gave Lexa, nor the look that Lexa shot back which had made both Indra and Anya laugh a little. Lexa just closed the door shaking her head.

"You'll have to excuse my family." Lexa said as she and Clarke walked back towards the main area of the Ark, "they're asses sometimes."

"Is your mom for real?" Clarke asked as she stopped and looked at the girl next to her.

"Yes," Lexa replied with a smile and a nod, "she actually cried when we gave her the drawing. Like I told you, Princess, you're very talented…"

Clarke watched as Lexa started to walk again.

"Everyone else can see it," Lexa continued, "Why can't you?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Clarke went back to the table she noticed it was just Bellamy sitting there.

"Where's everyone gone?" she asked as she sat back down.

"Helping Lincoln get the next round of drinks in," he replied, "what did Lexa want?"

"Her mom wanted to talk to me…" Clarke said, deciding not to tell him what the conversation had been about, she wanted to make the decision herself without all her friends telling her what they thought she should do.

"About the drawing?" he asked.

"Yeah," Clarke replied with a nod, "she really liked it."

"Not surprised," he said with a smile, "where did Lexa get to?"

"Helping the new girl at the bar area," Clarke replied, glancing over to where the brunette was serving some drinks, "apparently it's a little busier in here than they expected."

"She seems like a nice girl…" he said.

"Yeah." Clarke said with a small smile, "she is…"

At that moment he realised that Raven and Octavia were right, there was something building between Clarke and the new girl.

"You like her…" he said, stopping Clarke before she said anything, "as in like her, like her."

He noticed Clarke looking down at the table as she started to blush.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Not here…" she replied, "maybe if we get some air…"

He nodded a little and motioned over to Jasper, letting him know that he and Clarke were going outside. As soon as Clarke and Bellamy stood up, Jasper and Monty sat down, saving the table for when they got back. Clarke looked over at the bar area as they were leaving and she noticed a small smile on Lexa's lips as she looked at her. The blonde girl shook her head a little as she laughed.

As soon as they were outside Clarke started pacing back and forth a little.

"I have no idea what's going on Bellamy…" she said, "I mean, I've never really thought about girls like that…"

"Maybe you're just curious," he said, "from what O told me, most girls get curious at some point."

"Boys too," Clarke said with a laugh, "but most of you don't admit it…"

He laughed, knowing that Clarke was right, but still not admitting it.

"What if I'm not just curious," Clarke said with a sigh, "I mean, I've kissed girls when I've been wasted, and they say that alcohol doesn't make you do something you weren't already thinking about…"

"It just makes you a little braver," Bellamy replied with a nod, "have you talked to her about it?"

"What am I supposed to say?" she asked, "hey, I know you only lost your girlfriend 8 months ago, but I really like you and I don't know if I'm just curious or if I actually like you like that? Don't think that would go down too well…"

"She lost her girlfriend?" he asked.

"Me and my big mouth…" Clarke said, mentally kicking herself, "her girlfriend died in a car accident 8 months ago in Vegas…"

"Wow…" he replied, "had they been together long?"

"They met when they were 7, from what she said last night they got together when they were 13," she said, "so yeah, they had…"

"That sucks…" Bellamy said, "No wonder Lincoln is super protective of her."

"You're super protective of Octavia," Clarke said with a laugh, "I think it's a big brother thing."

At that moment Finn arrived, he looked a little worse for wear.

"Clarke," he said slurring his words slightly, "can I talk to you?"

"Sure…" Clarke replied, looking at Bellamy.

"I'll see you inside Princess," Bellamy said with a little smile, "you'll figure it out."

With the Bellamy walked back inside, leaving Clarke outside with Finn.

"How drunk are you?" Clarke asked him as he leaned against the wall near the door.

"A little," he said with a laugh, "I was hanging out with Murphy and a few others, then I realised I needed to talk to you, and if I didn't do it now I never would."

"I'm listening." Clarke replied, though she was pretty sure she already knew what was coming.

"What's going on with you and Lexa?" he asked.

"Nothing," Clarke replied honestly, "nothing is going on, why?"

"I've seen the way she looks at you and…" he said, "I don't like it. I don't like other people looking at you like that. I don't like her looking at you like that."

"Finn, we talked about this…" Clarke said with a sigh.

"I know, I know, Raven is my ex, she's one of your best friends," he said, remembering what Clarke has said to him a few months ago, "so nothing can happen between us… but what if I want it to?"

He moved away from the wall, and there was a look in his eye that set Clarke on edge.

"It can't happen, Finn…" Clarke replied, as she slowly took a step backwards.

A guy that was on his way into the Ark stopped and looked at Clarke.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod, "I'm okay."

He eyes were asking her if she was really okay, and she nodded a little and smiled, he just looked at Finn before walking inside, the door staying open when he did.

"So let me get this straight," Finn said as he stepped in front of Clarke a little, "it can't happen with us, but it can happen with her? You've known her a day, Clarke."

"Finn, you're drunk," she said, "go home."

"I don't want to go home," he said, taking a step closer to her, "I want to be with you."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lexa had seen Bellamy walk back in without Clarke, a sudden feeling of dread hit her when she thought that the other girl had gone home without saying goodnight. Mentally kicking herself she carried on serving the drinks, telling herself again that there was no way Clarke was interested in her, she wasn't even sure if Clarke was interested in girls in that way. As another person walked in, the door stuck open, something that her mother had said she was going to get fixed. Lexa heard raised voices outside, keeping an ear on what was going on she served the person in front of her.

"Where's Clarke?" she heard Raven ask Bellamy as the older boy stopped at the bar.

"Talking to Finn," Bellamy replied, "he just turned up and he's a little drunk… he'll probably leave again soon."

Lexa considered the idea that maybe it was Finn and Clarke arguing outside that she could hear, she knew from the lake earlier that day that the boy definitely had feelings for Clarke.

"I said no, Finn!" Lexa heard coming from outside.

She saw Bellamy and Raven look at each other before they turned and headed for the door, Lincoln not far behind them, but she got there first. She saw Clarke trapped between the boy and the wall and her blood just started to boil. Grabbing the back of his jacket she pulled him away from Clarke and threw him to the floor, stepping in front of the blonde.

"Oh look who has come to interfere." He slurred from his current position on the floor.

"She said she isn't interested." Lexa said calmly, wanting nothing more than to hurt the guy who may have been about to hurt Clarke.

"What do you know," he asked, as he stood up, "you've been here a day, and you think you can you take her from me…"

"From what I understand she was never yours to take." Lexa replied, her hands balling up into fists, "if I were you I'd leave."

"Or what?" Finn asked, stepping closer to Lexa, "you'll make me?"

"If I have to." She replied.

"Lexa…" Lincoln said as he stepped next to his sister, "calm down…"

"I'm perfectly calm." Lexa replied, sounding like she was in fact perfectly calm.

"It might be time for you to leave, Finn." Bellamy said, "Go home and sleep it off."

"Let me get the straight," he said looking at Bellamy and Raven, "you both know how I feel about Clarke, yet you'd rather see her with this…"

"You do not want to finish that sentence." Lexa said, a warning tone in her voice.

Clarke could see what was about to happen, and she stepped forward a little, just in case Finn thought it would be a good idea to finish what he was about to say.

"You'd rather see her with this dyke…" he said.

Clarke saw that Lexa was ready to fly at Finn, she grabbed the other girl, wrapping both arms around her waist before she could move.

"You really need to leave," Lincoln said to him as he stepped forward, "before I make you."

Finn looked at Lincoln, obviously weighing up his chances, he was drunk not suicidal.

"Whatever," he said as he turned to leave, before looking back, "I hope you're very happy together."

As they all watched Finn walk away, Clarke felt some of the tension leaving Lexa's body, so she let her go. The other girl turned to face her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the concern evident in both her voice and her eyes.

"Yeah…" Clarke replied with a little smile, "Yeah… thank you…"

"What the hell is wrong with that idiot," Raven said, "I mean you told him already you weren't interested and he seemed okay with that, why now?"

Raven turned around to see if Clarke was going to answer her, but she all she saw was the blonde looking at Lexa. She smiled a little and motioned to the two boys to go back inside.

"You two might not want to do this outside," Raven said as she started to follow Lincoln and Bellamy back inside, "in this area you might get an audience."

Clarke laughed a little as Raven walked inside.

"I think we need to talk…" Lexa said to her, and Clarke nodded in reply, unable to form any actual words in her head.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Seriously O, you should've seen Lexa," Raven said as they sat by the bar, "I thought she was going to kill him."

"She may have done if Clarke hadn't stopped her." Bellamy said with a laugh.

"Guess that's what you meant yesterday when you said she fights the boys off herself huh?" Raven asked Lincoln with a smile.

"She can get very… protective, when someone she cares about is threatened." Lincoln replied, with a little laugh, "As you both just saw."

Octavia watched as Lexa and Clarke walked upstairs, she noticed the blonde taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down a little.

"I think they're gonna have the talk…" Octavia said, nudging Raven and motioning to the stairs.

"None of our business, O." Bellamy said to his sister with a laugh.

"She's our Clarke," Octavia replied, "of course it's our business."

"When she wants you to know, she'll tell you." Lincoln said, placing a soft kiss on Octavia's head, out of instinct more than anything else.

Raven noticed a small smile form on Octavia's lips, at that moment she knew that Lincoln was what she wanted, and she knew she would have to be okay with that.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So…" Lexa said as she watched Clarke stand with her back against the wall.

"I am so confused right now…" Clarke said, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little, "I mean, yesterday when I saw you sitting there reading that book you seem to love so much…"

"It's called Don't Forget Me Here," Lexa said, "it's about a guy whose wife gets killed, and how he deals with that... how he meets someone else, and feels really guilty about moving on with his life…"

Clarke nodded a little, remembering that it wasn't that long ago that Lexa lost the girl she loved. She realised she had two choices, she could be completely honest with her, about her feelings and how messed up her head was, or she could lie and come up with some bullshit story that she hoped Lexa would believe.

"I just…" she said with a sigh, it was time to bite the bullet, "I thought you were the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen…"

She noticed Lexa look away from her, her face starting to turn a slight shade of red.

"And I kinda freaked out…" Clarke continued, "I've never… well I have, but…"

She noticed Lexa fighting to keep a smile off her face.

"You think this is funny?" Clarke asked.

"No," Lexa said, shaking her head a little as the smile finally broke on her lips, "I think it's really cute, actually, please, continue."

"You're not helping Lexa…" Clarke replied, sighing a little.

Lexa slowly stepped in front of her, not wanting to freak her out even more, considering what had just happened outside with Finn.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've been attracted to someone of the same sex…" Lexa said, her face suddenly very serious, letting Clarke know that she was in no way amused by what was going on.

"Yes," Clarke replied honestly, "well no, but it's the first time I've actually wanted to do something about it…"

"And you're freaking out." Lexa said, making it more a statement of fact rather than a question, because Clarke's eyes were giving her all the answers that she needed.

"Little bit." The blonde said with a laugh.

"I should probably be honest with you now," Lexa said, as she started to feel like she was drowning in Clarke's eyes, "I really like you Clarke, and that scares me. Because I have these walls, that I've spent the last 8 months building, and there's just something about you that makes me want to let you in… and the last time I felt like that…"

"Lexa…" Clarke said quietly.

"Let me finish," Lexa replied as she softly took hold of Clarke's hands, "please…"

Clarke nodded a little, letting her know that she wouldn't interrupt again.

"The last time I let someone in, I got hurt in ways that I never thought possible," Lexa continued, "and after that I thought I'd never feel that way again… but I do, and… I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm not ready to run into something headlong, only for you to figure out that it's just curiosity… so how about we make a deal… we take this slow, see where it leads, and figure out just what this is together, can we do that?"

Clarke nodded a little as she looked up into the emerald eyes that were looking back at her, those eyes telling her all that she needed to know.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: This part is very conversation heavy, I think it works pretty well. Clarke talks to her dad about Lexa, and Abby guesses and pulls Clarke to one side. Oh and there may be cuteness and a kiss along the way too. The next part will probably be a straight up follow on to this part, so don't forget to review, it feeds the muse. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter Three

Instead of Raven or Bellamy giving Clarke a lift home that night, Lexa had. They had sat out in her car for hours, chatting about anything and everything, Clarke only going inside when her dad opened the front door for the tenth time.

"Did you have a good night Princess?" he asked as Clarke walked into the living room.

"Yeah, it was fun," Clarke replied as she dropped down onto the sofa, stretching her legs out, "apart from when Finn turned up drunk and nearly caused a fight."

"Who just dropped you off?" Jake asked, trying not to pry too much, "it wasn't Raven or Bellamy."

"A friend…" Clarke said with a smile.

"That looked like a boys car." He replied.

"Don't worry dad," Clarke said with a laugh, "it isn't a boy's car. Her name is Lexa."

"Phew," he said dramatically, "I was getting worried."

"Can I ask you something?" she asked with a sigh.

"Anything sweetheart," he said, closing his laptop and looking at her, "you know that."

"Well," Clarke said sitting up on the sofa and looking at her father, "what if I said she wasn't just a friend…?"

"Are you two…?" he asked, not sure how to word his question.

"We're seeing what happens…" Clarke replied.

"I didn't realise you liked girls in that way honey." He said.

"Neither did I." Clarke said with a laugh, "not until yesterday…"

"When you met Lexa." He said with a small nod.

"She's different dad," Clarke replied, a small smile on her lips, "I can't really explain it…"

"So is it all girls you like, or just her?" he asked.

"Right now, just her…" Clarke said, for the first time in her life she wasn't able to read her dad.

She watched as he sat there thinking about what she'd said, obviously processing it as it sank in.

"To be honest Princess," he said, "even if it was all girls that wouldn't be a problem for me. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. I mean, sure I was hoping to have grandkids someday…"

"Dad…" Clarke said with a laugh, "me being with Lexa wouldn't stop that, come on, mom's a doctor, you know how this shit works."

"So you're already thinking long term?" he asked with a small smile.

"I don't know dad…" she said, blushing slightly, "before yesterday I probably wouldn't even be thinking short term…"

"Clarke, if Lexa is what you want, then go for it," he said, smiling softly at her, "your happiness is the most important thing to me, you know that."

"Oh shit…" Clarke said, "What is mom going to say?"

"You leave your mother to me." He replied.

Clarke nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone beeped, she had been so wrapped up in thinking about what her mother would say. Taking her phone out of her pocket she smiled a little before reading the message.

 **Lexa** (00:12) : Just wanted to let you know I got home okay, and also that I really enjoyed the chat. Can't believe we sat there for nearly 2 hours. Oh, I won't be around tomorrow until the afternoon, I have something to do in the morning. Sweet dreams Clarke x

Smiling to herself, not noticing her father watching her with a small smile on his lips, Clarke typed out her reply 'The time really did just fly by didn't. Enjoy whatever it is you have to do in the morning, drop me a message if you're free in the afternoon x'. As she hit send she looked up and saw Jake looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing." He replied, shaking his head a little as he looked back at his laptop.

"Have you eaten?" Clarke asked as she stood up and walked towards the door.

"Yes," he replied, "there's some pasta in the fridge that your mom made before she went to work, you just need to heat it up."

Clarke made her way through to the kitchen and put the pasta in the microwave to heat it up, her phone dinged again, though this time it wasn't Lexa.

Octavia (00:20) : I think Raven is currently banging my brother, how the hell am I supposed to process that?

Clarke actually laughed out loud as she typed out her reply 'Just don't think about it O'. It wasn't long before she got a reply.

Octavia (00:20) : I can't not think about it when I can fucking hear it Princess. Can I crash at yours?

"Dad," she called through to the living room, "is it okay if Octavia crashes here?"

"Bellamy take a girl home again?" her dad asked.

"Yeah," Clarke replied laughing, "Raven."

All she heard was her dad laughing as she text Octavia telling her it was fine.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It hadn't taken Octavia long to make it to Clarkes.

"Thanks for this Mr G," she said as she walked into the living and sat on the sofa, lifting Clarke's legs and putting them over her own, "there's just some shit you don't need to hear, you know."

"It's not a problem Octavia," he replied with a smile, "you're always welcome here, you know that."

"That's why you're the best." Octavia said throwing him her best smile, which just caused him to laugh.

While Jake continued with his work, Clarke let Octavia choose what to watch on the TV.

"So Princess," Octavia said as she rested her arms across Clarke's legs, "how did the car journey go?"

"Er… it was okay…" Clarke said, looking over at her dad, but seeing him concentrating on his work.

"And the goodnight part of it?" Octavia asked.

Clarke felt herself starting to go red again as she heard her dad laugh a little.

"It lasted two hours." Jake said, not looking up from his screen.

"Two hours? Seriously?" Octavia asked, "that is some serious…"

"Nothing happened." Clarke said, "seriously, you two… nothing happened. We just talked."

"I totally forgot you were there Mr G…" Octavia said, "I'd just like to say that I have no interest in your daughter's sex life."

"Nothing happened." Clarke repeated.

"Well I actually thought that Clarke had been driven home by a boy," Jake replied, "a Mustang isn't really the car of choice for a girl."

"Lexa isn't a normal girl." Octavia said with a little smile.

"Apparently she's different." Jake said a smile playing on his lips as he watched Clarke get more and more irritated.

"Who's different?" Abby asked from the doorway.

Nobody had heard her come in.

"Raven," Octavia said, "she's banging my brother so I'm crashing here."

"I thought you and Raven were…" Abby started to say.

"And now you know why it's so weird." Octavia replied with a dramatic shrug of her shoulders.

"Has everyone eaten?" Abby asked as she walked to the kitchen.

Clarke looked up at Octavia and mouthed 'thank you', to which Octavia winked and nodded.

"I've got your back Princess," she said, "You know that."

"Oh, Clarke," Abby said sticking her head back into the room, "a friend of yours was in the ER tonight."

"Who?" Clarke asked as she sat up.

"Finn," Abby replied, "he'd had a little too much to drink and passed out not far from that café you mentioned this morning. He's okay though."

"He had a lucky escape," Octavia said quietly, "Lexa was going to kill him."

"Who is this Lexa that I keep hearing so much about?" Abby asked, a small smile on her lips.

"Dude, does your mom have like bat super hearing or something?" Octavia asked Clarke.

"She's a parent," Jake said with a laugh, "we hear everything."

"She's… er…" Clarke started to say, stumbling on her words again.

"Yes…?" Abby asked, knowing exactly where Clarke was going with what she was saying.

"A friend," Clarke said with a nod, "she's a friend…"

"Can I talk to you in the kitchen Clarke?" Abby asked.

Clarke knew from the look on her mom's face it wasn't really a request. Octavia simply looked at her and mouthed 'oh shit'.

"I'm watching this…" Clarke said, motioning to the television.

"It won't take long." Abby said, walking back to the kitchen again.

Clarke looked at her father.

"Dad…" she said.

"Just be honest with her Clarke." He said, "She's not as scary as you think."

Clarke took a deep breath and stood up, before following her mother into the kitchen.

"Sit." Abby said, motioning to one of the chairs at the breakfast bar.

"Mom…" Clarke said, sitting down as her mother had requested.

"So she's a friend huh?" Abby asked, "I don't suppose there's a word in front of friend, something like, oh, I don't know, girl maybe?"

"I… er… well…" Clarke said, "yeah, maybe…"

Abby turned and looked at Clarke, the blonde was surprised to see that her mother didn't seem phased in the slightest.

"Let me tell you something," Abby said as she sat next to her daughter, "when I was in med-school…"

"Mom," Clarke said, scrunching her nose up, "I don't really want to hear about your wild med-school days…"

"It was before I met your father," Abby said, not giving her the details, "and it's certainly not something I regret. So it isn't something I'm going to be against for you. I just want you to make sure it's what you want. The world is a lot more understanding than it was for me, but it's still not something that won't not attract attention, if you and Lexa were to, I don't know, walk down the street holding hands."

Clarke nodded a little, letting out a sigh.

"And when you go back to school…" Abby said, "I think that certain people would be more judgemental than they should be, which may upset you."

"I think Lexa's got that covered…" Clarke said with a little laugh.

"Finn?" Abby asked.

"May have ended up on the floor after he tried it on earlier when he was drunk." Clarke said, remembering Lexa's actions from earlier that night.

"I just want you to be happy, Clarke," Abby said, "Whether it's with a guy or a girl, if it's what you want, then I'm okay with it."

"Thanks mom…" Clarke said, giving her mom a quick hug before she stood up.

"I would like to meet her though," Abby said as Clarke was leaving the room, "maybe you should invite her round for dinner one night."

"She's not really a people person mom…" Clarke replied.

"Clarke…" Abby said, in a way only a mother could.

"I'll ask her." Clarke replied admitting defeat.

As Clarke walked back to the living room she got out her phone and text Lexa 'my mom wants me to ask you if you want to come round for dinner x' she sent, before sitting back down with her legs over Octavia. As soon as she sat down her phone started to ring.

"Ooo late night booty call." Octavia said as Clarke stood up and answered the phone.

"Lexa?" Clarke said, walking out into the hallway.

"Tell your mom I'd love to." Lexa replied, "Though I'm surprised you told her."

"Told my dad too…" Clarke said with a little smile as she sat on the stairs.

"And they're okay with it?" Lexa asked in reply.

"Yeah, surprisingly." Clarke said with a laugh, "I was expecting some resistance, especially from my mom…"

"I can still tell you about my wild med-school days." Abby said as she walked back through to the living room, carrying ice cream.

"No thanks mom, I still don't want to hear about your wild med-school days." Clarke said, hearing Lexa laughing down the phone, "its not funny Lexa…"

"Oh it is," Lexa replied, "I had these images of someone who was very uptight when you were explaining your mom, seems you were a little off there Princess."

"Yeah…" Clarke said with a laugh of her own, "Looks like I was… so, what's this thing you're doing in the morning?"

"Er… I have kickboxing…" Lexa replied.

"I'm sorry, it sounded like you said kickboxing." Clarke said, imagining someone Lexa's size doing kickboxing.

"That's because I did…" Lexa said, "It helps with my stress levels, and my anger issues…"

"I just can't picture you kickboxing." Clarke said with a little laugh.

"You can come with if you want." Lexa replied, "I'm sure Lincoln won't mind."

"I have Octavia here tonight," Clarke said, "Bellamy and Raven are…"

"Banging loud enough to wake the dead." Octavia called from the living room, causing Lexa to laugh again.

"I thought that Octavia and Raven…" Lexa said.

"Yeah, for a while," Clarke replied, "but then she met your brother."

"Bring her along," Lexa said, "she might actually enjoy it."

"What time?" Clarke asked, dreading the answer, as she hated early Sundays.

"I'll swing by and pick you up around 8." Lexa said.

"Okay, 8…" Clarke replied.

"Oh, and Clarke, wear something comfortable." Lexa said with a laugh.

"Goodnight Lexa." Clarke said.

"Sweet dreams Princess." The other girl replied, before both girls hung up.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The morning came way too quickly for Clarke, as her alarm went off she stretched out in her bed, smiling as she recalled the dream that she'd had. She heard Octavia grumble next to her as the younger girl rolled over and stuck her head under the pillow.

"Come on O," Clarke said, "Lexa will be here in 30."

"I changed my mind," Octavia said, "sleep is more important…"

"More important than seeing the guy you have a thing for, all hot a sweaty?" Clarke asked, laughing as Octavia sat bolt upright, the pillow dropping from the bed.

"I'm up…" the younger girl said as she yawned.

Clarke got up and went to take a shower, knowing that Octavia would either get up and use the guest bathroom, or she'd go back to sleep. She actually expected her to fall back to sleep, so she was pleasantly surprised, when she finished in the shower, to find that the younger girl wasn't there. As she got dressed, in sweat pants and a t-shirt, her mom walked past her room.

"Fresh coffee in the pot," Abby said, "this girl has to be something different for you to be awake this early on a Sunday."

"Octavia is awake too…" Clarke replied.

"Of course she is," Abby said with a laugh, "it's Octavia."

"I resent those implications." Octavia said as she walked past Abby and into Clarke's room.

"She's got a point O," Clarke said with a laugh, "it did take the idea of Lincoln hot and sweaty to actually get you out of bed."

"I might just be very interested in… whatever it is they are doing," Octavia replied, "yeah, convincing Octavia…"

"Kickboxing…" Clarke said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that." Octavia said with a nod, "Seriously though Mrs G, you should see this guy, his muscles have muscles, but not in a way that screams steroids, you know what I mean…?"

"Muscly men aren't really my thing Octavia," Abby said, "don't get me wrong, I like a man who takes care of himself, but built guys do nothing for me."

"I wonder if Lexa's got a six-pack going on," the younger girl said with a smirk, "what do you think Princess?"

"Not answering that question while my mother is standing literally right there." Clarke replied, throwing a t-shirt at Octavia's head.

"But you know you've thought about it." Octavia replied.

Clarke just looked at Octavia as Abby walked away from Clarke's door, laughing to herself as she did. Her daughter had never been too bothered about conversations like that before, there must be something really different about this girl.

Of course Clarke had thought about it, especially after Lexa mentioned the kickboxing thing, but there was no way she was going to comment in front of her mother. In her mind she imagined Lexa being extremely toned.

"You are so thinking about it…" Octavia said with a laugh as she walked to the door, "Want me to give you a few minutes privacy with those thoughts?"

"Downstairs now you little shit…" Clarke muttered as she pushed Octavia from the room, before following her downstairs.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When the car horn sounded outside Clarke nearly jumped out of her skin, her mother had literally just gone outside to get in her car, Clarke doubted she'd had time to leave yet.

"You know both the parentals are outside right." Octavia said as she grabbed her jacket and headed to the door.

"Yeah," Clarke replied with a sigh, "that thought may have just crossed my mind."

Octavia grabbed Clarke's arm as they left the house, dragging her towards Lexa's car.

"See you later Mr and Mrs G." she called, as she pushed Clarke in front of her.

Lexa was watching the whole thing unfold and couldn't stop laughing. Deciding she would make the whole thing easier on Clarke she got out of the car.

"Lexa," Octavia said as they reached the car, "what are you doing?"

"Trust me." Lexa said, smiling a little as she saw the horrified look on Clarke's face.

"Lexa, no…" Octavia whispered loud enough for Abby and Jake to hear.

Both girls just stood there and watched as Lexa walked over to where Jake and Abby were standing near the doctor's car.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Lexa."

"I'm Abby, this is Jake." Abby said, smiling a little as the girl shook both their hands.

"I was just wondering when would be the best time for you for me to come round for dinner," Lexa said, "I understand that your job is a busy one."

"Can you make it this evening?" Abby asked, "I finish around 7."

"I'll call my mom and tell her that I need the night off." Lexa replied with a smile.

"Great." Abby said with a smile of her own.

"It was nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Griffin." Lexa said as she turned back and walked to her car.

Clarke wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole as Lexa walked back over to her.

"You really didn't need to…" Clarke said.

"Yes, I did." Lexa replied, softly placing her hands on Clarke's hips, "breathe…"

"Breathe… right…" Clarke said with a small nod, as she watched her mom drive off to work, Abby waving as she passed the girls.

"You're not going to kiss her now are you?" Octavia asked, "cause I'm pretty sure her dad doesn't need to see that…"

Lexa laughed a little as she stepped back from Clarke a little.

"Good morning to you too Octavia." She said, walking back round to the driver's side of the car.

"You were so thinking about it…" Octavia muttered as she climbed in the back of the Mustang.

Clarke could feel all the blood rush to her head as she sat in the passenger seat.

"That would be telling…" Lexa said, looking in the rear view mirror at Octavia, before she looked over at Clarke and smiled a little, before starting the car and driving away.

The blonde couldn't be sure but she thought that she saw Lexa's eyes flick down to her lips before starting the car. Subconsciously she softly bit down on her lower lip, switching her attention to the passing view as she saw Lexa look over at her briefly and smirk a little. She was in so much trouble.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Clarke realised that Lexa was driving them back in the direction of Ark Station, meaning that she had driven out of her way to pick them up that morning.

"You could've just given us the address to meet you at you know." Clarke said, still looking out of the window.

"I know," Lexa replied, "but something tells me that Octavia had a hard enough time getting out of bed this morning as it is."

"Hey," Octavia said from the back seat, "I wasn't that bad…"

Clarke couldn't stop herself laughing.

"A small reminder of where we were going may have helped," Clarke said, still laughing, "where is Lincoln by the way?"

"Oh you are so dead Griffin…" Octavia mumbled, causing both Lexa and Clarke to laugh.

"He's meeting us there," Lexa replied, "he needed to get everything set up."

"How much setting up is needed for kickboxing?" Octavia asked.

"That depends on whether you two are joining in or just watching," Lexa said, looking at her in the rear view once again, "and we didn't want to assume either way."

"Watching will be fine…" Clarke said with a laugh.

"That's a shame," Lexa replied with a small smile, "kickboxing can be a very close contact sport…"

"I am sitting right here." Octavia said, "seriously…"

Lexa smiled a little as she noticed Clarke look over at her, not taking her eyes off the road. She drove her car down a wide alley way next to what appeared to be another old warehouse.

"We're here." She said, as she hit the horn before turning off the engine.

The side door opened and Lincoln stood there in a white vest and a pair of sweat pants.

"Hot damn…" Octavia said as she got out of the car, leaving Clarke and Lexa alone.

Lexa moved to open the door but Clarke stopped her.

"Wait…" she said.

Lexa moved her hand back away from the door and looked over at Clarke.

"Why did you go and introduce yourself to my parents?" Clarke asked.

"Well you've already met my entire family," Lexa said with a laugh, "and I figured that it would stop things being so awkward for you. Plus your mom seems to be the kind of woman who likes the forward approach. Did I do the wrong thing?"

Clarke felt her breath hitch in her throat again as she looked at Lexa, the green eyes that looked back at her were, at that moment, full of doubt and worry. She was genuinely worried that she may have messed up.

"No…" Clarke said, shaking her head a little as she looked down at her hands, "no, just… unexpected."

"Clarke…" Lexa said, slowly reaching over and taking one of Clarke's hands in hers, "if I do something that freaks you out, or you don't like… you have to tell me, okay, cause I really don't want to mess this up…"

Clarke nodded a little, swallowing hard as she watched Lexa lift her hand to her lips, never breaking eye contact with her as she softly kissed her fingers.

"Good…" Lexa said with a smile, "we should get in there…"

Clarke took a deep breath as Lexa opened the car door.

"Wait…" she said again, her heart feeling like it was about to beat right out of her chest as Lexa turned to look at her again.

Swallowing hard Clarke reached over and softly cupped Lexa's cheek, moving her hand a little and placing it on the back of Lexa's neck as she softly kissed her. It took a few moments, what felt like a lifetime to Clarke, before Lexa returned the kiss, her fingers tangling in the blondes hair. Clarke backed away first, her breathing coming hard and fast.

"Sorry…" she said, "I just…"

Lexa put her fingers under Clarke's head, lifting her face so she was looking at her.

"Never be sorry for that…" Lexa replied.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"What kept you two?" Lincoln asked as Clarke and Lexa walked into the gym.

Neither girl said anything but Clarke started blushing.

"Boom," Octavia said, turning to Lincoln, "come on dude, pay up."

Lincoln sighed and took $10 out of his pocket before handing it to Octavia.

"Pleasure doing business with you good sir." She said, putting the bill in her pocket.

"I need to go and change," Lexa said with a smile, "I'll be right back."

Clarke nodded a little and watched as Lexa walked across the gym to a back room.

"Have you heard from Bellamy or Raven yet, O?" Clarke asked as she sat on one of the benches near the wall.

"No," Octavia replied, "something tells me I won't, not until at least midday."

"Why, what's happened?" Lincoln asked, sitting on the mat as he started stretching.

"Er…" Octavia said, getting slightly distracted by the sight in front of her, "Raven ended up at mine last night, with Bellamy… I ended up spending the night at Clarke's. Too much noise."

"Can't say I didn't see it happening," Lincoln replied with a laugh, "they were getting pretty close last night."

"Dude, he's my brother," Octavia said, "and she's… well she's Raven. It's just wrong."

"Why is it wrong?" Lincoln asked, "They're both consenting."

"It's just wrong…" Octavia replied, "it would be like you sleeping with Clarke, no offence Princess…"

"You and Raven…?" Lincoln asked.

"Gold star to the stud muffin…" Octavia said with a sigh, "it was never anything serious, neither of us broadcast it…"

"You weren't really too quiet about it either." Clarke said with a laugh.

Clarke was still laughing when Lexa walked back out from the changing room, as she dropped into silence Octavia looked over at Lexa.

"Hot damn…" she said, "I mean, hey Lexa."

Lexa smiled a little as she walked towards them, taping up her hands. She was wearing a sports top which cut off at the middle, showing her perfectly toned stomach. It was sleeveless as well which meant that Clarke got her first look at Lexa's tattoo's. Her hair was now tied back in a ponytail rather than her usual intricate braids.

"You ready to go big brother?" she asked Lincoln, pushing his head playfully.

Lincoln grabbed Lexa's legs, pulling them out from under her and causing her to land flat on her back on the mat. She laughed as she easily got up and into a fighting stance.

"How about we mix it up a bit," Lincoln said to her, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "how about a bit of MMA…"

"You sure you want Octavia to watch you get your ass kicked?" Lexa asked with a smirk.

"Oh bring it on." He replied with a laugh.

"MMA…?" Clarke asked Octavia quietly.

"Mixed Martial Arts," Octavia replied, "basically anything goes…"


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: So, here we are again. Thank you so much for all the reviews so far, you all rock, please keep them coming. There's a twist in this part regarding Lincoln/Octavia Raven/Octavia which some people may enjoy. There's also cuteness. Oh, and raccoons. It's the lead up to the 'dinner'. Read, review and mostly just enjoy!_**

Chapter Four

Clarke sat and watched as Lincoln moved towards Lexa, the brunette gripping his wrist as he stepped closer, turning into his body, using his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder onto the mat.

"That is so badass…" she heard Octavia say.

"Its simple science," Lexa said as she let Lincoln up, "just using the other person's forward momentum."

"And making me look like an idiot at the same time." Lincoln said with a laugh.

"Oh that's not science," Lexa replied, "that's fun."

"Can you teach me?" Octavia asked, "I mean, I can fight but it's more like just hitting people as hard as you can."

"Lincoln?" Lexa asked, "Do you want to teach her or shall I?"

"I'll do it," Lincoln replied with a smile, "you'd probably just kick her ass."

"Oh I am not that bad." Lexa said with a laugh as she walked over to where Clarke was sitting, "what about it Princess, you interested?"

"Me and any kind of physical exercise don't really mix." Clarke said with a laugh of her own.

"It depends on the physical exercise though, right Clarke?" Octavia asked as Lincoln showed her some warm up moves, "I mean, there are certain things that are worth getting all hot and sweaty over."

"Octavia Blake ladies and gentlemen, the girl born with her mind in the gutter." Clarke replied.

"I was actually talking about Starbucks coffee," Octavia said with a smirk, "whose mind is in the gutter now Princess."

"Octavia, you hate coffee…" Clarke said with a laugh, "and no coffee is worth getting hot and sweaty over…"

"I'll go easy on you Clarke," Lexa said with a little smile, "it'll be fun, I promise."

"That smile makes it impossible for me to say no…" Clarke replied with a smile of her own as she stood up.

"I'll have to remember that." Lexa said, "You might want to take the jacket off."

Clarke laughed as she took her jacket off, blushing slightly at the implications in what Lexa had just said.

"I was talking about when it's your turn to get the coffee Princess…" Lexa said quietly as she walked past Clarke and over to the mats.

"That shade of pink looks good on you Clarke." Lincoln said with a laugh.

"Seriously," Clarke said, "it's not my fault that I blush…"

"And pout apparently," Lexa replied, "which is pretty cute."

"You think everything she does is cute." Octavia said.

"Don't worry Octavia," Lexa said with a smirk, "I think you're cute too."

"Now who's blushing?" Clarke said with a laugh as she started to do a few warm ups.

10 minutes later, when Lexa figured Clarke was warmed up properly, or at least to the point where she wouldn't hurt herself, they were good to go.

"Okay," Lexa said as she stepped towards Clarke, placing her hands on the tops of her arms, "you stand here…"

Clarke moved where Lexa wanted her to stand.

"Never stand face on…" Lexa said as she moved behind Clarke, putting her hands on her hips, "are you right or left handed?"

"Left…" Clarke replied, reminding herself to breathe, as she always had to when Lexa was that close to her.

"So, you need your right foot forward," Lexa said, dropping her hand to Clarke's leg, "left foot back…"

Clarke did as Lexa said, smiling a little when she thought that the butterflies in her stomach had turned into elephants.

"Something amusing Princess?" Lexa asked, standing close enough to Clarke that the blonde could feel her breath on her ear.

"No," Clarke said shaking her head a little, "nothing."

"Angle your hips a little," Lexa said, moving Clarke a little, "you need to be standing more side on…"

"Hey…" Octavia said, watching Clarke and Lexa, "why didn't I get that kind of treatment from you?"

Lincoln just laughed as he watched the way his sister was interacting with Clarke.

"Better…" Lexa said to Clarke as she moved from behind her, the blonde almost immediately missing the contact, "Now… try and hit me."

Lexa stood in front of Clarke, out of arms reach so the blonde would have to move forward a little if she wanted to even come close to hitting her. Clarke moved forward a little, her left arm coming forward from behind, Lexa easily moved out of the way.

"Keep your weight on your right leg," Lexa said, as she watched Clarke move back to the way she had been standing before, "it gives you more leverage with your left arm, try again."

Again Clarke moved forward, this time Lexa took hold of her wrist and threw her down onto the mat in the same way that she had with Lincoln earlier. Dropping herself down next to Clarke with a smirk as she saw Clarke staring at the ceiling as she tried to breathe.

"You need to move your feet a little more," Lexa said with a smile, as she looked down into Clarke's eyes, "don't be so static…"

"I thought you were going to go easy on me…" Clarke said with a smile of her own, getting lost in the emerald eyes in front of her.

"I was…" Lexa replied, her smile dropping a little as she felt herself moving closer to Clarke.

Lexa suddenly remembered that they weren't alone when Lincoln cleared his throat in a rather dramatic fashion.

"Can we keep it PG over there please." He said with a laugh.

Shaking her head a little she stood up and held her hand out to Clarke, to help her up. The blonde girl reached up and took her hand, pulling Lexa back down. The brunette needed to reset her feet before she fell flat on her face, her feet going either side of Clarke's legs as she ended up sitting down, straddling the blonde.

"Guess that answers the PG question huh…" Octavia said with a laugh.

Clarke's phone started ringing from where she had left it on the bench.

"Princess," Octavia said, walking over to the phone, "phone's ringing…"

She looked back at Clarke and saw that Clarke was completely absorbed in looking into Lexa's eyes, so she picked up the phone.

"Clarke." She said, "Raven is calling you… oh screw this…"

Octavia decided that she would answer the phone, it was only Raven after all, not like it was someone that she didn't know.

"I think I kinda messed up, Princess," Raven said as soon as Octavia answered the phone, "O probably told you already, but I ended up back there last night with Bellamy… I have no idea what I was thinking, I mean, he's hot and everything and holy fuck have you seen him with his shirt off…"

Octavia didn't say anything as she kept listening to her friend spill her guts over the phone.

"But this morning I realised just how big a mistake I've made," Raven continued, "it's just… seeing Octavia with Lincoln… I needed to forget about that, you know. The idea of her with someone else, someone who's not me… Clarke, you there?"

"She's er… a little busy right now." Octavia said.

"Octavia?" Raven asked.

"Yeah…" Octavia replied.

"I… I've got to go." Raven said, fully realising the enormity of what had just happened.

"Don't you dare…" Octavia replied, knowing that Raven was about to hang up the phone, her raised voice attracting the attention of the three other people in the room, "Raven Reyes do not hang up that… she hung up."

"What happened?" Clarke asked, putting her hands on Lexa's hips and lifting the other girl off her before she stood up.

"She hung up…" Octavia said, looking down at Clarke's phone, "she calls up, says she regrets sleeping with my brother, and she hangs up the fucking phone."

"If she regrets it, why did she do it in the first place?" Lexa asked, standing up and moving next to Clarke, "in my experience you already know you're going to regret something like that before you do it."

"It's a coping mechanism," Clarke replied, looking at Lexa before she looked back at Octavia, who was still looking down at the phone like she was in a state of shock, "for Raven, it's a way she deals with something. She uses sex to forget… something that she had been working on…O, did she say why she regretted it, other than the fact that it was Bellamy, and that's a line she probably shouldn't have crossed?"

"What was she trying to cope with?" Lexa asked, her hand brushing Clarke's softly.

"Me…" Lincoln said, "well me and Octavia… right?"

"I need to go." Octavia said, handing Clarke back her phone, "I just need to…"

Lexa looked between Octavia and Lincoln, seeing her brother clench his jaw a little, she narrowed her eyes.

"It looks like you have a decision to make Octavia." Lexa said, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at the girl.

"I…" Octavia said, looking at Lexa before looking at Lincoln, "Lincoln, I…"

"It's okay," he said softly, "go… I'll talk to you later."

"I need to think…" she said as she picked up her bag.

Clarke, Lexa and Lincoln all stood in silence and watched as Octavia walked from the gym.

"Well I didn't see that happening… much." Clarke said as she sat down on the bench, "Octavia is literally the only person that Raven has genuinely cared about since Finn. I did try warning her that she needed to figure out what it was she wanted…"

"It's not exactly your fault Clarke." Lincoln replied, as he sat down next to her.

"What I don't understand," Lexa said, sitting down on the other side of Clarke, "was if this… whatever it was, was going on with those two, why did Octavia start something with Lincoln?"

"She didn't," Lincoln said, "not really… we were seeing where it went…"

"O and Raven were never technically together," Clarke said with a sigh, "it started back before Raven met Finn. Octavia was curious about her sexuality, and Raven was the person she went to… it's been off and on since then, but never technically together…"

"Excuse me…" Lincoln said, standing up and walking through to the changing room.

Clarke and Lexa sat on the bench as they heard a large crash, Lexa flinching as she knew exactly what it was.

"What…" Clarke started to say.

"There are metal lockers back there…" Lexa said, sighing as she stood up, "can you give me a minute?"

"Of course," Clarke replied, "I should probably call Raven anyway…"

Lexa nodded a little before turning and walking to the locker room. As Clarke was waiting for Raven to pick up the phone, Lexa walked back from the locker room, with her jacket on, car keys in hand.

"I need to go and get some ice." She said, "Will you be okay here?"

Clarke nodded a little as the phone rang off again.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Clarke hadn't been able to reach either Octavia or Raven since the incident at the gym, Lexa had dropped Lincoln off before taking Clarke home. The girls were sitting in the living room, talking about where Octavia might be when the front door opened and Raven walked in.

"There you… oh, hi Lexa." Raven said, rubbing the back of her neck when she realised Clarke wasn't alone.

"When someone calls you it's customary to answer." Clarke said as she looked at Raven.

"O told you what happened?" Raven asked, suddenly feeling extremely hot as Lexa looked at her, "look, Lexa, I…"

"None of my business." Lexa said, standing up, "Clarke, I'll see you later, I need to go home and change before dinner."

"Okay…" Clarke replied as Lexa softly kissed her on the head before leaving.

"I didn't mean to interrupt…" Raven said, walking over to the sofa and sitting down.

"You weren't," Clarke replied, "we were just talking about where Octavia could've ended up. She left the gym pretty quickly earlier, saying she needed to think, and she didn't go home…"

"The lake," Raven said, looking down at her hands, "she'll be at the lake…"

Clarke quickly dropped Bellamy a text, telling him to check the lake.

"Right," she said, putting her phone down again before turning to face Raven, "spill."

"I fucked up…" Raven replied, "no change there though, right… I thought sleeping with Bellamy would change things, but it didn't… I woke up this morning feeling like total shit… I mean he knew it was a one night thing, but… and then I called you, only you didn't answer, you were busy… and with Lexa looking like that I can see why…"

"We were kickboxing…" Clarke said, feeling herself blushing slightly.

She had no idea when she started blushing so much, she never had any issues with any of that before, but now apparently she did. Something she was going to have to work on.

"Is that what people are calling it these days?" Raven asked with a laugh.

"So, you call me up, to tell me that you messed up," Clarke said, wanting to get Raven back on track, "O answered…"

"Well she didn't really answer, I mean she didn't say anything," Raven said, "I assumed it was you, so started ranting on about how I slept with Bellamy, and that I only did it because of Lincoln and O… and how seeing her with someone who wasn't me… I have great timing with this shit huh…"

"I guess it's not something you thought you'd have to face up to any time soon," Clarke replied with a sigh, "for the longest time it was just you and Octavia, then Lincoln turns up… I think you need to talk to Octavia, and then the two of you need to talk to Lincoln."

"I think Lexa hates me…" Raven said, "that's great isn't it. Your girlfriend actually hates me."

"She just doesn't want to see Lincoln hurting," the blonde replied, "I don't think she hates you."

"You didn't deny that she's your girlfriend…" Raven said with a little smile, nudging Clarke playfully.

"I actually kissed her today…" Clarke said with a small smile, "she picked O and I up this morning to take us to the gym and introduced herself to my parents. Then we were sitting outside the gym, and she was kinda freaking that she'd done the wrong thing… so I kissed her…"

"And, how was it…?" Raven asked.

"Over too fast." Clarke replied with a laugh.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

While she was sitting in the living room watching television with her dad, Clarke heard a lot of crashing in the kitchen. Her mom had got off work early and was currently sorting out food for when Lexa arrived. It was 6:30, Clarke needed to get changed, she had put on shorts and a t-shirt after she had showered earlier once Raven had left, and she didn't think that would be appropriate for dinner with company. Not that she thought Lexa would mind, but she knew her mom would. Her dad laughed as once again they heard Abby cursing.

"I think she's more nervous than you are." Jake said with a laugh.

"She's worry over nothing," Clarke said, "Lexa would be fine with take-out."

Standing up she made her way through to the kitchen.

"You doing okay there mom?" she asked, sitting down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.

"5 different types of pizza," Abby said, "thought I'd keep it as informal as possible. There's got to be something there that Lexa likes."

"Oh, didn't I tell you," Clarke said, fighting to keep the smile off her face, "Lexa doesn't do dairy."

As Abby looked at her she couldn't stop the laugh, almost falling off the stool she found her mother's face so funny. Clarke didn't find the towel flying at her head quite so funny.

"You are an evil child Clarke Griffin." Abby said.

"You should know, mom, you raised me." Clarke replied, "seriously though, stop worrying, I'm sure there'll be something she likes."

"You've never had a… significant other over for dinner before Clarke." Abby said, "this is a big deal."

"Wells came over for dinner…" Clarke replied.

"You were 5." Abby said with a laugh.

"True." Clarke replied with a laugh of her own, "I should go and change, try not to give yourself a heart attack or anything."

Clarke made her way upstairs and stood in front of her closet trying to figure out what to wear.

"Probably should've figured this out earlier Griffin…" she said to herself as she grabbed a pair of jeans and a white shirt, choosing to wear a black tank-top underneath, "that'll do…"

As she was finishing getting ready she heard the doorbell, looking at her phone she saw it was bang on 7pm.

"I'll get it!" she yelled as she rushed out of her room, getting half way down the stairs before she saw that her mom had already answered the door.

Losing her footing she very nearly fell down the stairs, much to her mom and Lexa's amusement.

"I thought I told you," Abby said, "no stair-surfing in the house."

Clarke felt her face go bright red, not exactly the coolest thing she'd ever done.

"In my experience it always works better with a mattress." Lexa said with a smirk.

Abby noticed the look that was exchanged between Lexa and her daughter, she smiled a little as she walked back towards the kitchen, leaving the girls alone.

"I totally meant to do that…" Clarke said as she walked down the stairs towards Lexa.

"Sure you did Princess." Lexa replied with a smile.

As Clarke walked a little closer to Lexa she let her eyes take in the girl in front of her. Lexa was wearing skinny black jeans, with a tight black top underneath, topped off with a black leather jacket. Her hair hung loose and wavy.

"Wow…" Clarke said, stepping in front of her, "you look… wow…"

"Don't look too bad yourself," Lexa replied, taking Clarke's hands, before looking down at her socks, they had pictures of raccoons on them, "loving the socks…"

"What's wrong with my socks…?" Clarke asked, closing the distance between them a little more.

"Nothing," Lexa replied with a small smile, dropping Clarke's hands and choosing to place her hands on her hips instead, "they're very cute… very you…"

"Is that a fact?" Clarke asked, swallowing hard as her eyes dropped to Lexa's lips.

"Mhm…" was all that Lexa could get out before she kissed the girl in front of her.

They couldn't get any closer as Lexa ran her tongue over Clarke's lower lip, requesting access that was gladly granted, the blonde girl tangling her fingers in Lexa's hair as a fire seemed to light in the pit of her stomach. When the need for air became too much both backed away a little.

"Hey…" Clarke said with a small smile.

"Hey…" Lexa replied, with a soft smile of her own.

"You ready for this?" Clarke asked.

"I was born ready." Lexa replied as Clarke took her hand.

"You like pizza right?" Clarke asked as they walked towards the living room.

"Who doesn't like pizza?" Lexa asked in reply.

They walked into the living room and Clarke felt the nervous feeling building in her chest again, as if she could sense it Lexa tightened her grip on Clarke's hand as Jake looked up from his laptop. Smiling a little he closed it and put it on the table.

"It's nice to see you again Lexa." He said.

"You too Mr Griffin." Lexa replied with a smile.

"Please," Jake said, "call me Jake."


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: In this one we have the dinner, and also the 'after dinner' bit. Be sure to let me know what you think, reviews feed the muse remember. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I love reading what you all think about where this is going. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter Five

As Abby wanted to keep things as informal as possible, instead of sitting at the kitchen table while eating, she had put the pizza on the breakfast bar. She knew how nervous Clarke was, not only when it came to the dinner, but also when it came to absolutely anything about Lexa. While she was sorting everything out in the kitchen she could hear Clarke, Jake and Lexa all laughing. Jake was probably telling one of the many funny stories from when Clarke was a lot younger.

"Okay guys," Abby called, "dinner's ready."

As the three of them walked into the kitchen, they were still laughing.

"I was just telling Lexa what happened the first time Clarke took the subway by herself." Jake said as he sat down.

"That was the time you ended up in Brooklyn right?" Abby asked as the two girls sat down opposite her and Jake.

"No…" Clarke said with a shake of the head, "Brooklyn was another time…"

"How many times have you got lost on the subway?" Lexa asked with a laugh.

"Not enough times for my parents to agree on getting me a car." Clarke replied, looking over at her parents, both of whom just laughed.

"I just don't think a car in a city like New York is necessary," Abby said, "there are good transport links, you've got the subway, the bus…"

"Do you have any idea how many rapes take place on the subway each year?" Clarke asked, "If that's what you want for me then…"

Both Jake and Lexa were trying not to laugh by this point.

"You don't need your own car," Abby replied, "Bellamy has a car, Raven has a car…"

"I have a car…" Lexa said with a laugh.

"You drive a Mustang right?" Jake asked as he looked at Lexa.

"I do," the brunette replied with a nod, "it was a present for my 18th birthday from Lincoln, my brother."

"It's a very… masculine car." Abby said, trying to think of the right words so not to offend anyone.

"It's also a classic," Lexa replied, "I love classic cars. It's also reliable, and not a car that people would expect a girl to drive, so it's also safer."

Clarke couldn't stop the smile as she saw how Lexa had stood up to something that her mother had said, most people found her mother to be intimidating, obviously Lexa didn't.

"And I think the term is muscle car," Jake said as he looked at Lexa, "am I right?"

Lexa simply nodded in reply as she reached for another slice of pizza.

"Raven drives something similar doesn't she?" Abby asked.

"Raven drives a beast of a car." Clarke replied with a laugh.

"1967 Shelby Mustang GT500…" Lexa said, blushing slightly when everyone looked at her, "I like cars…"

"I remember when she got that car," Clarke said with a laugh, "it was a rusty banged up hunk of junk, it didn't run, the engine literally fell out of the bottom when she started it up the first time…"

"I remember her mentioning she'd done it up, but she rebuilt the whole thing?" Lexa asked, turning on the stool slightly, tucking her right leg under her as she looked at Clarke.

"Yeah," Clarke replied with a nod, "took her all of last summer."

Clarke glanced down at Lexa's leg, when the other girl turned on the stool it brought them even closer together, Lexa's right knee now resting against Clarke's leg.

"That was when her mother took off again right?" Jake asked.

"Yeah," Clarke replied, "she does that a lot."

"It's almost like she doesn't remember that she actually has a daughter," Abby said with a sigh, "Raven is a great kid, and her mother is really missing out."

"Why does her mom take off?" Lexa asked, not knowing the full story.

"She's a drug addict," Abby said, "more concerned about where her next hit comes from than she is about whether her daughter has food to eat. Though Raven is a survivor, you won't hear her complain about it."

"She works," Clarke said, "there's a garage down the street from her house, the guy there noticed that she would go there a lot when she was a kid, taking a real interest in cars and all things mechanical. She's got an awesome mind, so intelligent. He let her help out while her mom was on one of her missions, she even slept there in the office sometimes when her mom took another random guy back to the house. Now she's his best mechanic."

"Why doesn't she just move out?" Jake asked, "She knows she's always welcome here."

"I know dad," Clarke said, "but she doesn't like to feel that she's a burden on anyone."

"So, Lexa," Abby said, changing the subject as it was getting a little too heavy, "you mentioned your brother, Lincoln, do you have any other siblings?"

"Yeah," Lexa said with a smile, "I have an older sister, Anya. She and Lincoln pretty much manage Ark Station. Obviously it's my mom's business, but she likes to have us all involved as much as possible."

"Where did you move here from?" Jake asked, smiling a little as he looked at the brunette girl.

"Vegas," Lexa replied, "my mom had a bar there, a pretty successful one, but it isn't what she really wanted to do. She was born and raised here in New York, it was always her dream to come back here one day."

"Do you miss Vegas?" Abby asked, "New York is very different, and obviously it's a long way from the friends you had there."

Clarke noticed as Lexa's jaw clenched, she was obviously thinking about Costia.

"Maybe a different subject…" Clarke said, looking at her mother, but resting her hand on Lexa's leg, letting the other girl know she was there.

"No…" Lexa said, looking at Clarke and smiling softly as she linked their fingers together, "its fine… I do miss it, but in some ways I don't… it holds too many bad memories for me now. I was in a relationship for a long time, and she… she died. I closed myself off after that, closing out all my friends and everything, so New York was a fresh start."

"I'm really sorry to hear that," Abby said, her eyes softening as she looked at the young girl opposite her, "that must have been hard."

"Yeah," Lexa said with a nod, "it was… but in the last few days I've realised that it's okay to live my life, it's not something I should feel guilty about…"

Abby and Jake shared a small smile, in the small amount of time they had been talking to Lexa they could see why Clarke liked her.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After dinner was finished and the dishwasher loaded, Abby had suggested that Clarke give Lexa a tour of the house. The girls ending up in the den. It was somewhere that Clarke and her friends had spent many a night.

"I should probably apologise for my mom…" Clarke said as she and Lexa sat on the sofa in the den.

"Nothing to apologise for," Lexa replied as she put her arm around Clarke, kissing the blonde girls temple as she felt Clarke relax into her, "it's natural for her to have questions, I'm just surprised there wasn't more."

Clarke laughed a little as she put her legs up on the sofa, leaning more into Lexa, her head resting on the girl shoulder.

"There'll be more questions coming at some point," she said, "I can pretty much guarantee it."

"I was tempted to ask her about her med-school days…" Lexa replied, causing Clarke to laugh, a lot.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As Clarke's laughter filtered down from the den Abby and Jake shared yet another smile.

"She's a nice girl," Abby said, "I like her."

"You actually like someone who is interested in our daughter?" Jake asked, a mock shocked expression on his face, "That's a turn out for the books."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Abby asked, throwing a cushion at his head.

"You always find something wrong with the people that Clarke chooses to date," Jake said with a shrug, "they're either too old, too wild… no idea's for their future. But this one you like."

"You don't?" Abby asked.

"Oh I do," Jake said with a laugh, "and so does Clarke, which is the important thing here."

"We might have to talk about sleepovers though…" Abby said, "From the way they were looking at each other earlier I don't think it's going to be long…"

"Let's just see what happens," Jake replied with a nod, "I totally agree, but I'd like to think that Clarke will talk to us about that when she's ready. She isn't going to go behind our backs with that, you know that."

Abby nodded, she knew that he was right.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Do you have anything to do in the morning?" Clarke asked Lexa as they sat watching some crappy movie on the television in the den.

"Nope," Lexa replied, "I have the afternoon shift at Ark Station."

"Okay…" Clarke said, turning her attention back to the television, "what's this movie about?"

"I have no idea," Lexa replied with a laugh, "from what I can tell, the girl likes the boy, but the boy likes another girl…something tells me it isn't going to end well."

"Want to pick a movie?" Clarke asked, "There's a huge collection in the cabinet over there."

"That means moving right...?" Lexa asked in reply.

Clarke nodded in reply, smiling a little as Lexa placed yet another kiss on her head.

"Then I think I'll pass…" the brunette said.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The time passed a little too quickly for Lexa's liking, when she checked her phone she saw that it was nearly 11pm. Sighing, she looked at the blonde currently asleep in her arms, she couldn't help but think how everything had been this easy with Clarke. 8 months ago she couldn't see herself having any kind of future with anyone, losing Costia had been the hardest thing she had ever had to go through, and without Lincoln, Anya and Indra she didn't think she would've ever been able to survive it. They had done literally everything together, there wasn't a moment of the day they weren't with the other person, or texting them. When Costia died, it was like part of Lexa had died along with her. The part that cared. She had closed herself off to everyone and everything. Her life had pretty much stopped, it was like she was treading water, not going anywhere. But Clarke had changed all that. Although she had only known the other girl for a few days, Lexa had found herself looking forward to getting out of bed in the morning, a feeling that she hadn't had for a while, and one that she hadn't been sure she would ever have again. Things were easy with Clarke, there was no pressure. She accepted Lexa for who and what she was, never trying to push things too far, too fast. Lexa found herself interested once again in the world around her, feeling that she may actually enjoying living in it again, rather than just existing.

Her phone vibrating pulled her from her thoughts. She had put it on vibrate so it hadn't interrupted dinner. Her mom always had a rule through dinner, phones either went on vibrate or they went off.

 **Linc** (22:58) : Closing up Ark Station, mom wants to know whether to expect you home or not.

Smiling to herself, Lexa couldn't help but think if it was Indra who wondered that, or if it was Lincoln and Anya. She typed out her reply 'tell Anya that I'm on my way' before hitting send. It didn't take Lincoln long to reply.

 **Linc** (22:58) : I told her you wouldn't fall for that. See you soon kid.

She put her phone back on the arm of the sofa while thinking about the best way to wake Clarke.

"Clarke…" She said softly, the blonde girl shifting in her arms a little, "come on Princess, wake up…"

She softly kissed Clarke's head and was sure that the blonde girl actually sighed a little. It was probably the cutest thing that Lexa had ever seen. It didn't take much longer for the other girl to open her eyes.

"What time is it…?" Clarke asked, her fingers softly tracing a pattern on Lexa's leg.

"11…" Lexa replied, "I should probably get going…"

Clarke nodded a little as she sat up.

"Is it wrong that I don't want you to go…?" Clarke said quietly, as she blushed a little.

"No…" Lexa replied, "But I probably should, not sure your mom would agree to me spending the night right now. Not that I don't want to…"

She closed the distance between them, kissing Clarke softly, before the blonde girl deepened the kiss. Her hands moving to Lexa's hips as she moved herself forward, never breaking the kiss. Lexa felt a fire burning in the pit of her stomach as Clarke moved so she was sitting on her lap, Lexa's hands going to the small of Clarke's back as she held the girl closer, felling the blonde's fingers in her hair. She backed away first.

"Wait…" she said, trying to catch her breath as she looked into Clarke's eyes, "I…"

"I really don't want you to go…" Clarke said with a laugh.

"And I really don't want to, trust me on that." Lexa said with a laugh of her own, before she placed another kiss on Clarke's lips, "I just…I think we should wait."

Clarke nodded a little, nearly jumping out of her skin when she heard her mother clearing her throat from the doorway.

"I was just leaving…" Lexa said as Clarke moved so she was sitting on the sofa again.

Abby couldn't help but smile a little as her daughter turned the brightest shade of red she had ever seen. Lexa stood up and put her jacket on before walking to the door.

"Oh, Abby," she said, "I'm still curious about your med-school days by the way."

"And one day I might tell you," Abby replied with a small laugh, "Clarke, are you going to show Lexa out…?"

"Oh yeah, right," Clarke said, standing up and walking towards where Lexa was standing.

"Thanks for dinner." Lexa said to Abby.

"Anytime, Lexa." She replied, shaking her head a little as Clarke followed Lexa down the stairs and to the door.

"Text me when you get home?" Clarke asked as Lexa opened the front door.

"I will." Lexa replied with a small smile, placing a soft kiss on Clarke's lips, "goodnight Princess."

Clarke stood and watched as Lexa got into her car and drove away. When she turned back around her mother was standing at the living room door, her eyebrow arched slightly.

"What?" Clarke asked as she closed the door.

"Maybe you should close the door to the den next time." Abby said with a smirk.

"I didn't exactly plan it…" Clarke replied, "It just kind of happened…"

"Looks like we're going to have to set out some ground rules for you two." Abby said, motioning for Clarke to follow her into the living room.

"Ground rules?" Clarke asked as she followed her mom, "Seriously mom, we're not kids."

"I know that," Abby replied as she sat on the sofa next to Jake, "your father and I were talking earlier…"

"Oh great…" Clarke replied as she dropped herself down on one of the chairs.

"We just don't want you rushing into anything and regretting it," Abby said, "we both like Lexa, and it's pretty obvious how you feel about her. We just want you to know, that when the time is right, we have no objections. Just make sure that you're sure about it."

"Well it's not like I can get knocked up right…" Clarke said with a little laugh, causing both her parents to laugh.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Lexa got home to the loft apartment she shared with her family, she knew it was going to be a long night. Lincoln and Anya both turned to look at her as she took her jacket off and hung it up.

"So," Anya said as Lexa walked through to the living room area of the open plan apartment, "how was it?"

"Give your sister a chance to sit down Anya." Indra said with a laugh from the kitchen area.

"Thanks mom…" Lexa said with a laugh of her own as she sat sideways on one of the chairs, her legs hanging over the arm, as she looked at the television which was currently showing the latest MMA fight live from Vegas, "why didn't you remind me this was on tonight Lincoln?"

"Because you had more important things to think about." Lincoln replied with a laugh, "you haven't missed much, it's just started."

"Awesome." Lexa replied, reaching over to the table and grabbing a bowl of popcorn that Indra had just put down.

"How's Clarke?" Indra asked as she sat on the sofa with Lincoln and Anya.

"She's good." Lexa replied, not taking her eyes off the television, "oh come on, seriously, even I could've got out of that hold."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Anya looking at her, her older sister looking like she was going to throw something at her if she didn't spill about the dinner soon.

"Something on your mind there Anya?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh come on Lex," Anya replied, "you just had dinner with your girlfriend's parents, and if this was the other way around you'd be grilling me for information."

"It was good," Lexa said, looking over at her, "they're nice people. Anything else you want to know?"

"Seriously?" Anya said with a dramatic sigh, "that's all you're giving me?"

"Pretty much." Lexa said with a laugh as she turned her attention back to the television.

"What is it that her parents do?" Indra asked.

"Her mom is the head of the ER at the hospital where she works," Lexa replied, knowing that her mom was just curious, "and her dad is an engineer of some kind with a big company, I didn't really ask too many questions…"

"We should probably invite them round," Indra said, thinking out loud, "I mean it's only polite after they invited you round for dinner."

"How about we ask Clarke to come round for game night," Lincoln replied, "I've already asked Bellamy and a few of the others."

Game night was a weekly occurrence in their house, it was a night where Indra would go out with her friends and the kids had the run of the loft. It was usually a night where a football or basketball game was on, and Lincoln, Anya and Lexa would all just hang out.

"Have you talked to Octavia yet?" Lexa asked, looking over at Lincoln.

"That's gotta suck dude," Anya said, patting her brother on the head, "I mean you start crushing on this girl just to find out she's actually crushing on another girl. It's like some really bad romantic comedy without the laughs."

"She's going to come to Ark Station tomorrow so we can talk," Lincoln said to Lexa, completely ignoring what Anya had just said, "I'm not sure that she's made up her mind though."

"Have you ever thought about…" Lexa started to say.

"Don't say threesome, please don't say threesome…" Anya said.

"I was going to say an open relationship," Lexa said, throwing popcorn at her sister, "I seriously wonder if you're actually the eldest here."

"An open relationship might work," Indra said, "I mean, if you think you could deal with that."

"I don't know," Lincoln replied, "I probably could, though I'm not sure if Raven could."

"If you care about Octavia, then you might have to," Lexa said, "I don't envy you with that choice big brother."

As they sat there in a very comfortable silence while watching the fight on the television Lexa's phone started to vibrate in the pocket of her jacket, she had totally forgot to take it out, she had also forgotten to text Clarke. Anya stood up and walked towards the bathroom, passing Lexa's jacket she took the phone out.

"You actually have her as Princess in your phone?" Anya asked as she looked down at the screen.

"Anya…" Lexa said, putting the popcorn down and jumping off the chair, "don't you dare."

She jumped over the sofa, trying to get to her sister before she answered her phone. Anya just smiled at her and hit answer.

"Hey Clarke," she said, as Lexa reached her, putting her hand on Lexa's forehead and holding her off, "yeah, she made it home okay, how was dinner…? And your mom caught you, seriously bad luck…"

"Anya…" Lexa said, sounding like a little kid who wasn't getting their own way.

"Yeah, hold on, Lexa wants to talk to you." Anya laughed a little as she handed Lexa her phone.

"Oh you are so dead…" Lexa said to Anya before putting the phone to her ear and walking into the kitchen area, "hey Clarke…"

"Hey," Clarke replied with a laugh, "you didn't text and I got a little worried."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Lexa said, "got the third degree when I got home, some people are a little too curious for their own good. Do you want to meet up at Ark Station tomorrow? Lincoln is meeting Octavia and I think he may need a little moral support."

"Sure," Clarke replied, "I need to go shopping for some more art supplies in the morning, so I could meet you there afterwards, I think Octavia is coming with me anyway."

"That'd be great…" Lexa said, "what happened with your mom after I left?"

"She mentioned something about ground rules," Clarke replied with a sigh, "then actually didn't set any."

"Ask her about game night." Lincoln called from the living room area.

"Right," Lexa said, "so, every week we have game night, basically it's just an excuse for me, Lincoln and Anya to hang out while mom goes out… anyway, we were wondering if you wanted to come, Lincoln already asked Bellamy and a few of the others if they wanted to come…"

"Sounds like fun." Clarke said.

"Great," Lexa replied with a smile, "I'll fill you in on the rest of it tomorrow…"

She heard Clarke yawning on the other end of the phone.

"Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Lexa said.

"I'm not tired…" Clarke replied.

"So that wasn't a yawn I heard?" Lexa asked with a little laugh.

"Maybe…" Clarke said with a small laugh of her own, "okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Sweet dreams." Lexa replied.

"Yeah, sweet dreams Princess." Anya yelled, earning herself a smack round the head from Indra, "ow."

Lexa hung up the phone, laughing as Anya rubbed her head.

"You really are a child sometimes." Lexa said to her sister as she sat back down.

"Oh you love me." Anya said as she smiled.

"Sometimes…" Lexa replied with a nod.


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay, another insane Clexa idea popped into my head which I had to write (it's posted on AO3), and I got stuck part way through this part. It gets a little weird part way through, but it's all cute again by the end. The lead up to, and the start of, game night. I am going to need to change the rating at some point, though whether that is in the next part or the part after I'm not sure. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter Six

Octavia had been quiet the whole time she was out with Clarke, other than asking how dinner had gone she didn't have any other questions, the blonde girl was expecting an interrogation or something. That's when Clarke knew that this whole thing with Raven and Lincoln was seriously getting to her.

"You okay O?" Clarke asked as they walked towards Ark Station.

"Why isn't anything ever easy?" Octavia asked as she looked down at her feet while she was walking, "I mean, I choose Raven, I hurt Lincoln, I choose Lincoln, I hurt Raven…"

"But what do you want?" Clarke asked, "It's all well and good thinking about it in terms of hurting them, but what do you want O?"

"If I say both of them, is that wrong?" Octavia asked, "I'm not talking at the same time, though that could be fun…"

Clarke laughed a little as she playfully nudged the girl next to her.

"I do have one question," Clarke said, knowing that she had to approach the situation carefully, "I know you care about Raven, and now we know that Raven cares about you, why didn't you two ever make it official?"

"Because it never really came up," Octavia said with a shrug, "neither of us were seeing anyone else, till Finn came along… I don't know… she did say something about being not worth it, you know how she gets… She wanted me to be with someone who deserved me, not some loser with a drug addicted alcoholic as a mother and no prospects for the future… her words not mine."

"Sounds like Raven…" Clarke said quietly.

"But she is worth it…" Octavia said, "She's the first person who I've been with who accepted me for me. She didn't push me into anything, she moved at the pace I wanted to go at… What if I choose Lincoln and lose her forever…?"

"I don't think you'll ever really lose her O," Clarke said, putting her arm around her friend's shoulders, "she's always going to be there…"

"But what if she's not…" Octavia said as they neared the door to Ark Station.

"Ready?" Clarke asked as she put her hand on the door.

"No…" Octavia replied, "But I don't really think I have a choice do I…"

Clarke smiled a little as she opened the door.

"Oh fun," Octavia said, "Lexa's here too…"

"She kind of works here…" Clarke said with a little laugh, "seriously, don't worry about Lexa."

Clarke noticed that Lexa was sitting with Raven, while Anya was talking to Lincoln. It surprised her a little, but then again Lexa was constantly surprising her. As Clarke and Octavia walked over to where Lexa and Raven were, Lincoln stood up and walked over to the table as well.

"Hey…" Lexa said as she stood up.

"Hey…" Clarke replied, before she looked at Raven, "you good?"

Raven nodded a little.

"Okay," Lexa said, linking her arm with Clarke's, "let's go and sit with Anya, leave them too it."

Clarke looked at Octavia who nodded a little, letting her know she was okay. Clarke and Lexa then went and sat at the table with Anya, the blonde girl was thankful that they were far enough away to not hear anything that was being said.

"I do not envy Octavia right now…" Lexa said, glancing back at the table, "two people who really care about her, it's a tough choice to make."

"She's more worried about the fact that she stands to hurt one of them," Clarke replied, "she doesn't like the idea of hurting anyone, it's just not in her nature"

"Maybe she doesn't have to…" Anya said, "Lexa and mom suggested an open relationship, that way she doesn't have to choose and neither of them stand to get hurt…"

"An open relationship usually works better if the people you are with aren't around each other all of the time." Clarke replied.

"Talking from experience there Clarke?" Anya asked with a smile.

"No," Clarke said with a laugh, "but a friend of my mom's is in an open relationship, well an open marriage actually. She lives with her husband, but she has another guy that lives about 2 hours away…"

"I think, as long as they all know where they stand, it could work…" Lexa said, "But it's not for us to decide is it."

"I don't think I could do it." Anya said with a shrug, "I mean, knowing that you're sharing your partner with someone else…"

"I don't think I could either…" Lexa replied, glancing over at Clarke.

"You just don't play well with others, Lex." Anya said with a laugh, "what about you Clarke, could you be in an open relationship?"

"I think it would depend who I was with," Clarke replied, "right now… no. Then again, if that's what Lexa wanted, then I'm sure I'd be able to accept it eventually."

"Lucky for you it isn't something I'd ever want." Lexa said with a smile.

"You two are puke worthy." Anya said as she stood up.

"Coming from you that's a compliment." Lexa replied.

"Yeah, yeah," Anya said, "you two want a drink?"

"Coffee, please." Lexa said before looking at Clarke.

"Same, thanks." The blonde said with a small smile.

As Anya walked away, Lexa leant in and kissed Clarke, before backing away a little.

"I've wanted to do that since you walked in…" Lexa said with a little smile.

"No complaints here." Clarke replied with a smile of her own, "what were you and Raven talking about, you know when O and I got here…"

"She asked me what I would do if I were in her position when it came to you," Lexa replied, looking down at Clarkes hand as she softly traced patterns over it with her fingers, "if I was about to lose you to someone else… putting aside the fact that Lincoln is my brother and if O decides to go with Raven…"

"And what did you tell her?" Clarke asked.

"I told her, if I were in her position, I'd fight for you." Lexa said, "I also told her what we talked about last night about an open relationship… it works for some people…"

"I'm not sure Raven could deal with that." Clarke replied honestly, "the very thought of O being with someone else pushed her into Bellamy's arms, I'm not sure that she'd be able to cope with knowing that she's sharing her…"

"Not even if it meant she didn't lose her?" Lexa asked.

Clarke glanced over at the table to see how it was going, Octavia was talking and both Raven and Lincoln were listening to her. The blonde could tell that Raven was fighting her instinct to run. It was her thing. When something happened that she didn't like, or that made her uncomfortable, she ran. Run from it now and hope not to have to deal with it later. She saw Raven move her chair back a little.

"Don't run Raven," Clarke said quietly, "don't run…"

Raven looked over at her and Lexa, Clarke shook her head a little and watched as her friend moved her chair back closer to the table again.

"She's a runner huh…" Lexa said quietly to Clarke.

"Big time," Clarke replied as Anya brought the drinks back over to the table, "thanks Anya."

"Do we have progress?" Anya asked, motioning over to the other table.

"Well Raven didn't run," Clarke said with a little laugh, "that's progress…"

The three of them just sat there, glancing over at the table every now and again, Lexa softly tracing patterns on Clarkes hand with her thumb. A few moments later, Lincoln stood up and walked away. He didn't look angry, he didn't look upset. Clarke looked between Anya and Lexa, trying to figure out their reactions and what they thought had just happened. She noticed Octavia reach over the table and take Raven's hand. Her friends deep in conversation but it didn't look like a very happy one.

"Give me a minute…" Lexa said as she stood up and walked in the direction Lincoln had gone.

Clarke watched Lexa as she walked away before turning her attention back to O and Raven, she saw Raven nod a little before Octavia looked over at her, her eyes pleading for Clarke to go over.

"Go…" Anya said to Clarke, "she obviously needs you over there."

"This sucks…" Clarke said quietly as she stood up.

"You have no idea Princess." Anya replied, clenching her jaw as she looked at Octavia.

Clarke walked over to the table where Raven and Octavia were sitting.

"So…" she said, not sitting down, "did you three figure it out?"

"Open relationship…" Raven replied, obviously not too happy about it.

"And everyone is okay with that?" Clarke asked in reply, looking between the two girls.

"Going to have to be," Raven said, before she checked her phone, "I need to get back to work…"

"I'll call you later okay…" Octavia said to her, to which Raven simply nodded, "Raven…"

"Yes," Raven said with a sigh and a nod, "call me later… catch you later Princess."

With that Raven walked out of Ark Station.

"Stupid idea right…" Octavia said, dropping her head down onto the cool surface of the table.

"Honestly," Clarke replied, "I don't think it's gonna last babe… She'll stick it out as long as she can, but she isn't going to be happy about it."

"That's what Lincoln said…" Octavia said, still not lifting her head to look at Clarke, "but if I chose one and not the other, someone stood to get hurt, if I chose neither… I stood to get hurt… why is my life so fucking complicated."

Clarke saw Lexa walk back out from the staff only area, as their eyes met she could tell that Lexa wasn't too happy about something, but instead of walking over to talk to her, Lexa just started serving the people who were sitting at the counter.

"Anya!" she yelled over, "my shift doesn't start for another hour, do you want to actually maybe try doing some work for once."

Clarke watched as Anya rolled her eyes before she walked over to the counter. Taking over from Lexa, the younger girl throwing the towel she had in her hand down on the counter with enough force to knock a coffee cup onto the floor, cursing as it broke into pieces.

"I've got it…" Anya said, crouching down next to Lexa, "go…"

The next thing Clarke knew, Lexa was going upstairs, not even looking back at her. She felt a hand cover hers and she looked at Octavia.

"Go…" the younger girl said, motioning to the stairs, "I'm good…"

Clarke looked between the stairs and Octavia.

"Seriously," Octavia said, "I'm good, go…"

Clarke nodded a little before she headed up the stairs after Lexa. She found the girl sitting against the wall, her legs pulled up to her chest, eyes locked on the opposite wall.

"Lexa…" Clarke said as she walked closer to the girl.

"My stupid ideas…" Lexa replied shaking her head a little, "If I hadn't suggested an open relationship then Octavia would've chosen… now Lincoln is sitting in the back office, considering walking away from her because he knows how much she means to Raven… and he doesn't want to upset anyone. Why did I have to open my big mouth with my bright ideas…"

"One of them would've thought of it already," Clarke said sitting down next to Lexa, "I mean when me and O were on our way here, she said it would be so much easier if she could have both."

"But it isn't going to last," Lexa said, "anyone with eyes can see that. Someone is going to end up getting hurt."

"Which isn't going to be your fault, Lexa…" Clarke said with a soft smile, "you can't make choices for everyone you know, their happiness does not depend on you…"

"Do you want to get out of here?" Lexa asked as she looked at Clarke.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It didn't take Clarke long to figure out where Lexa was driving them, they were headed to the lake. As the brunette parked her car up, Clarke saw Finn and Murphy being total idiots, as usual, with another group of friends.

"Oh great…" Clarke said, "We can go somewhere else."

"No," Lexa replied as she took her keys from the ignition, "I like it here, come on…"

Both girls got out of the car, Clarke looking for a quiet spot for them to go to, preferably away from Finn. As far as she knew no one had seen him since that night outside Ark Station, even Bellamy hadn't talked to him which was weird. She swallowed hard as she saw Murphy look at her and Lexa before he nudged Finn.

"Ignore them," Lexa said quietly as she took Clarke's hand, leading her over to a quiet part of the lake, "forget they're even here."

"Pretty easy for me to do," Clarke said with a laugh, internally sighing at the feel of her hand in Lexa's, "I'm not the one who nearly pummelled his face into the sidewalk."

"Well now you're just being dramatic." Lexa said with a smirk as she gently bumped shoulders with Clarke as they we walking, "plus if I had actually wanted to 'pummel his face into the sidewalk' as you put it, I would have."

"Why did you get so angry?" Clarke asked, glancing at the other girl.

"Other than the fact he was going to hurt you," Lexa said, softly biting down on her lower lip, "and he had every intention of doing something that you really didn't want him to?"

Clarke nodded a little as Lexa looked at her.

"I can't stand the idea of someone taking the rights of someone else away," Lexa said with a sigh, "I mean, what gave him the right to do that? You'd already said you weren't interested, that should have been enough, he should have respected that whether he liked it or not. If a girl tells you they aren't interested, it isn't an invitation to do it anyway…"

Clarke smiled a little as she tightened her grip on Lexa's hand.

"Plus I really hate the word dyke," Lexa said with a laugh, "I'm a person, not a dam built to stop a river overtaking an area."

Clarke couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her as Lexa stopped them and sat down.

"I mean seriously," Lexa continued, "it's such an overused word, and yes, I do find it offensive. I'm a lesbian, call me that all you want, but the word dyke just gets me seeing red…"

"I don't get why labels are important…" Clarke said with a shrug as she sat down next to Lexa, leaning her weight into the other girl a little.

"Labels are given by people to mark out something that is different from themselves," Lexa said, "something that they don't understand. Its societies way of sticking us all in these neat little boxes so it's easier for small-minded people to make sense of the world around them. Personally, I don't fit into a box, I am who I am and if someone has a problem with that, then that's their issue, not mine."

Neither girl had noticed that Finn had made his way over to them, until he cleared his throat. Clarke stood up as she looked at him, Lexa could sense the blonde girl's immediate discomfort and stood up behind her, putting her hand on Clarkes waist, letting her know she was there.

"Er…" Finn said, looking at Lexa's hand before he looked back to Clarkes face, "Clarke, I just wanted to apologise for the other night, I was a dick."

"That's one word for it…" Lexa said, her eyes fixed on the boy, letting him know in no uncertain terms that if he tried anything again, she would stop him.

"Just what is your problem?" Finn asked looking at Lexa, "I was talking to Clarke, not you."

"You really want to know what my problem, Finn?" Lexa asked, feeling her anger start to boil up inside her.

"Lexa…" Clarke said, looking back at the brunette, the look in her eyes letting Lexa know it was okay.

Lexa just sighed, nodding her head a little.

"I don't think I can accept your apology Finn," Clarke said as she looked at him, "you knew that I wasn't interested, we've had that conversation so many times before…"

"I was drunk." He replied.

"Being drunk isn't an excuse," Clarke said, remembering what Bellamy had said to her about someone's actions when they are drunk, "being drunk isn't a reason for doing what you did. Being drunk just gives you the confidence to do what you were already thinking anyway…"

Finn nodded a little, running his hands through his hair.

"I guess I'll leave you alone then…" he said, when Clarke didn't say anything he just nodded a little and walked back over to his friends.

"And you…" Clarke said turning to face Lexa, a small smile on her lips, "I get it, I do, but I don't need you to be my protector, Lexa…"

The brunette nodded a little and just sat back down.

"I mean don't get me wrong," Clarke said sitting down next to the girl, "its all kinds of hot… but…"

"I get it," Lexa said with a small laugh, "I'm sorry…"

As Lexa went back to looking out over the lake, Clarke felt like this was going to be something that may be an issue for Lexa.

"You okay?" she asked, as the silence continued.

"Yeah," Lexa replied with a nod, "yeah… I get too protective, I just…"

"Hey," Clarke said, using her hand to softly turn Lexa's face to hers, "it's not a bad thing. But, what if something happened and you weren't there… you know, I need to be able to protect myself. You could always teach me how to fight…"

"I can do that…" Lexa nodded.

Clarke closed the small distance between their lips and softly kissed Lexa. Before either of them could get too into the moment, Lexa's phone started to ring. The brunette girl groaned as she took her phone from her pocket.

"What?" she said answering her phone, throwing an apologetic look in Clarke's direction.

"Are you forgetting you were supposed to be working this afternoon?" Indra asked.

"I'm out at the lake…" Lexa replied with a sigh, "did you talk to Anya…"

"I did, and she told me what went on earlier," Indra said, knowing that her daughter was probably not in the best frame of mind to work, "I'll let it slide this once, but you pull a double shift next Sunday to make up for it."

"Mom, I have kickboxing on Sunday…" Lexa said.

"Double shift next Sunday." Indra repeated.

"Fine…" Lexa replied with a sigh.

"Tell Clarke I said hi." Indra said with a small laugh, "and I'll see you later, remember its game night tonight, Lincoln and Anya need your help getting things sorted as you have company this time."

"Okay," Lexa said, "I'll see you later."

As she hung up the phone she looked at Clarke.

"My mom says hi…" she replied, "and also I have to do a double shift next Sunday."

"No kickboxing then." Clarke said with a little smile.

"Nope," Lexa said, "she has this massive thing about responsibility, if you agree to do something then you should do it, which obviously as I'm here with you and not at work, I'm not doing… a double shift is probably supposed to remind me of that, or something."

"I could always hang at Ark Station next Sunday," Clarke replied, her fingers softly trailing along Lexa's thigh, "if that'll help…"

"Oh that'll definitely help…" Lexa said before pulling Clarke in for another kiss.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lexa had dropped Clarke at home before she had gone to deal with arranging game night with Lincoln and Anya. As soon as Clarke walked in the door she was met by looks from her mom.

"What?" Clarke asked as she walked into the living room.

"Was that Lexa that dropped you off?" Abby asked.

"Yes," Clarke replied, "is that a problem?"

"Of course not," Abby said, not wanting Clarke to get defensive about this, "you just seem to be spending a lot of time with her."

"That's kind of what happens when you're in a relationship with someone mom," Clarke said with a shrug, "I mean, I know all that stops when you get married…"

Her dad tried to hold in his laugh, but failed. As Abby looked at him, he held his hands up in a surrender pose.

"She does have a point," he said, still laughing a little, "let them enjoy it while they have no responsibilities."

"I just don't want her closing out her friends," Abby replied, "that's all."

"We actually all hang out together," Clarke said, "like tonight for example, its game night at Lexa's."

"What's game night?" Abby asked.

"Honestly," Clarke replied with a laugh, "no idea. She mentioned something about it being a tradition when her mom went out and there's a sports game on TV. They've invited a few of us round there."

"Like who?" Abby inquired, surprised at her daughters honesty, but in a way not surprised at all, Clarke had never been one to lie.

"Well, obviously her older brother and sister will be there, you know, the adults," Clarke said with a smirk as her dad looked at her, "Bellamy is going to be there, technically another adult, O, Raven, Monty and Jasper are also going to be there. We're all just going to hang out."

"And what time will you be home?" her mom asked, always full of questions.

"I don't know," Clarke said with a shrug, as she walked towards the door, "I might not be…"

"Clarke…" her mom said, following her out of the room.

"It depends how late it gets, designated drivers go out of the window when it gets too late," Clarke said as she stopped on the stairs, "don't you remember that time you blew up at Raven for driving me home at three in the morning that time…"

"Just don't let yourself be pushed into something you don't want to do." Abby replied from the bottom of the stairs.

"Mom," Clarke said with a sigh, "you've met Lexa, does she seem like someone who is going to force me to do something I don't want to do?"

"No… she seems like the exact opposite, actually." Abby conceded, "at least text me or your father and let us know whether to expect you home or not."

"I will, I always do." Clarke said with a small smile before she continued up the stairs to her room.

Standing in front of her closet Clarke again found herself worrying about what to wear. Grabbing her favourite pair of jeans and a tank top out of the closet she headed to the bathroom to shower. When she was finished she checked her phone, it was nearly 7pm, and she had no idea how she was getting to Lexa's. She text Raven asking if she was picking her up, it didn't take long for the other girl to reply.

 **Raven** (18:57) : of course I am Princess, don't stress your pretty little head. Oh and make sure you're underwear matches.

Clarke laughed to herself as she sat on her bed, before texting Raven back 'Why is matching underwear important for a car ride?' she replied.

 **Raven** (18:58) : the car ride wasn't the kind of ride I was thinking about Princess. We all know how close you and Lexa have got, it's only a question of time, and we all know it. I'm leaving now, be at yours in 10.

Clarke rolled her eyes as she stood up and grabbed her hoody from the back of the chair. Checking herself in the mirror one last time, she headed downstairs.

"Lexa picking you up?" her mom asked.

"No," Clarke said, "Raven is…"

"Maybe she can drop you home again." Her mom replied, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Maybe," Clarke replied with a sigh, "seriously mom, please stop worrying. I will text either you or dad if I'm not coming home."

"Just…" Abby said as she heard the car horn outside, "enjoy your night."

Clarke just smiled as she walked from the house and got into Raven's car.

"Matching underwear?" Raven asked.

"Black…" Clarke replied as Raven laughed, starting the car and driving them off towards Lexa's house.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As Raven parked up outside the address that Lincoln had given her.

"What is it with these people and old factory style buildings…" Raven said as she walked to the main door, "at least this one look vaguely like an apartment block…"

"What number?" Clarke asked as she walked over to the panel on the wall near the door.

"Top one," Raven replied, "loft apartment."

"Of course…" Clarke said with a roll of her eyes as she hit the right button.

"Yep." Came the reply.

"It's Clarke and Raven." Clarke said.

"Oh hey bitches," Anya said, "come on up."

"Did she really just call us bitches?" Raven asked as she and Clarke walked through the door and towards the elevator.

"Sounded like it to me." Clarke replied with a laugh.

After a short elevator journey they arrived at Lexa's floor. Their apartment was the only one on the floor.

"Jesus…" Raven said quietly, "how much money do these people have…"

"I have no idea," Clarke said with a laugh as she walked to the door, "you ready?"

"Always." Raven said, "now the big question is, are you?"

"And what's that supposed to me?" Clarke asked as Raven knocked on the door.

Before Raven had a chance to answer the door was open and they were both pulled inside.

"We don't knock around here." Anya said with a smile.

Anya dropped Clarkes arm as she closed the door, but kept hold of Raven as they walked into main living area of the loft. Clarke found herself looking around again. Just like at Ark Station, the loft had been stripped back to it's original brick work. There were floor to ceiling windows down the far wall, allowing for a beautiful view of the city. She noticed that there was a balcony that ran the length of the other wall. Then she saw it, pride of place over an old brick open fireplace, the picture she had drawn of Lexa. A cushion flying at her head brought her attention back to the group gathered in the living room area. She picked the cushion up from the floor, as it had missed her, and she looked at them to see which one had thrown it, noticing Lexa with a smirk on her face.

"Your hand-eye coordination is shit…" Clarke said with a laugh.

"Babe," Lexa said with a laugh, "if I meant it to hit you, it would've hit you."

Clarke laughed and walked through to the living room. She noticed that all the chairs were full, as was the sofa. Raven was sitting on the floor between Octavia's legs, and Clarke couldn't help but notice how little tension there was between her and Lincoln, who was sitting next to the other girl on the sofa.

"Two choices," Anya said looking at Clarke, "sit on the floor, or sit with Lexa."

The blonde looked at Lexa who was sitting sideways on in the chair facing the group, Clarke figured it was her favourite place to sit. Lexa smiled a little as she motioned for her to go over. Clarke knew everyone was watching her as she walked over to Lexa. The other girl moved her legs, so Clarke could sit on her lap. Ignoring the smirk on Raven's face, Clarke did just that. Turning her head a little to look at Lexa as the other girl put her arms around her waist and softly kissed her neck.

"I missed you…" Lexa said quietly.

Clarke was sure she was the only person who had heard Lexa.

"You only saw me like two hours ago,,," Clarke replied, just as quietly.

"Two hours too long." Lexa said with a small smile as she kissed her.

"Hey, you two," Anya called over, "save it for later okay."

Lexa couldn't help but laugh as Clarke blushed as she back away a little, it was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: So, no rating change just yet, but it will be coming soon, it just didn't seem to fit right in this part, as you read it you'll understand. Don't forget to review, it feeds the muse. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter Seven

After arguing about whether to order pizza or Chinese, they agreed on a compromise and ordered both. Clarke was pretty sure that Octavia would eat most it, that girl had a seemingly never ending apatite.

"Wouldn't it be cool if you could just get a Chinese pizza," Octavia said as she finished what was in her cup, tipping it upside down with a pout, "I'm empty."

Raven and Lincoln exchanged a look, both of them rolling their eyes before Lincoln stood up to get Octavia a refill.

"But what would you put on the pizza," Lexa asked with a smile, finding herself more than a little amused with the drunken Octavia, "you couldn't have noodles on it, that would just make it taste like crap…"

"Please don't encourage her…" Clarke said, realising that her own cup was empty, "you need a refill?"

"No thanks," Lexa replied with a smile, "I don't actually drink that much, not really a big fan of alcohol."

"How can you not be a big fan of alcohol?" Raven asked, having overheard what Lexa said, "it just leaves everyone totally open to what they're thinking."

"It also makes people think they can get into cars and drive." Lexa replied, "I personally like to be in control of what I'm doing, and I like to remember what I've done the next day."

"Only idiots get in cars and drive when they're drunk," Raven said, not noticing Clarke, Octavia, Lincoln and Anya all begging her to shut up with their eyes, "I mean what kind of idiot thinks they can control a car when they can't even walk in a straight line… What…?"

"You really need to learn when to close that pretty mouth of yours Raven…" Octavia said.

"Did I miss something?" Raven asked, looking at Clarke and Lexa.

"Whatever you missed, we missed." Bellamy said, "but things have turned slightly tense in here."

"That would be my fault," Lexa replied with a sigh, "sorry… my ex was killed by a drunk driver 8 months ago. It's why I'm not a fan of alcohol and I'm certainly not letting any of you drive home later. So, car keys on the table."

Raven, Bellamy and Monty all put their keys on the table.

"Lexa, I'm sorry," Raven said honestly, "if I'd have known…"

"It's okay…" Lexa replied, "really…"

Raven nodded a little.

"Still gotta suck though…" Raven said quietly.

"It wasn't the best time of my life." Lexa replied with an uncomfortable laugh, running her hand through her hair.

"How about we talk about something else." Clarke said, knowing that Lexa wasn't really comfortable talking about Costia.

"I think I'd like to have crispy duck on a Chinese pizza…" Octavia said seriously, causing everyone to laugh.

Clarke looked back at Lexa as the conversation picked up again.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

Lexa just nodded in reply, Clarke could tell from that action alone that she wasn't okay.

"Want to help me refill my drink?" the blonde asked.

As Clarke stood up, Lexa followed, both of them walking through to the kitchen area.

"You know," Clarke said, as she grabbed herself another beer, deciding it was probably safer than whatever Jasper had created this time, "as you've just taken the keys from my designated driver, I have no way of getting home…"

"I think everyone was planning on crashing here anyway…" Lexa replied, leaning against the kitchen unit with her arms folded across her stomach, her attention obviously elsewhere.

"What time is your mom getting back?" Clarke asked.

"Tomorrow morning probably," Lexa replied, her eyes still focused on a point on the floor, "her and her friends tend to party pretty hard, and she doesn't like us seeing her that wasted. She thinks it sets a bad example."

"Bet she has no idea how much drinking is going on here tonight then." The blonde said with a laugh.

"Probably not…" Lexa said.

"Hey…" Clarke said, putting her drink down on the side and moving to stand in front of Lexa.

"Sorry…" Lexa replied, shaking her head a little, before putting her hands on Clarke's hips, pulling her closer, "it's just… it's still difficult to talk about…"

Clarke put her arms over Lexa's shoulders, her hands meeting behind the girl's neck.

"You never have to be sorry about that," she said, "you know that right…"

"It's just weird…" Lexa said with a sigh, "missing her while you're standing right here…"

"You're always going to miss her Lex," Clarke said with a soft smile, "it's only natural, and there's no way I can replace what you had with her, I know that…"

"I'm not asking you to…" Lexa replied, "what I have with you is different… she would've liked you, you know…"

"You think?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah…" Lexa said with a little nod, "she'd have kicked your ass about your lack of confidence with your art though…"

"Did she like art?" Clarke asked.

"She loved it," Lexa replied with a smile, "I actually have one of her pieces in my room… you wanna see it?"

"Sure." The blonde girl replied with a small smile as Lexa softly kissed her.

Lexa took Clarke's hand and lead her in the direction of her bedroom.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Anya asked.

"Just going to show Clarke the painting…" Lexa replied, "we'll be back out in a minute."

"Sure you will." Octavia said with a laugh.

As she opened the door to her room and hit the light switch, Lexa turned to Clarke.

"You'll have to excuse the mess…" she said.

"What mess?" Clarke asked, looking around the room.

There was a pair of jeans on the floor and a couple of books on the floor near the bed, other than that there wasn't a thing out of place. She noticed that Lexa's room was pretty empty. Other than a big old style four-poster bed, a large window seat next to the massive window on one side of the room, a huge bookcase, a desk and a walk-in wardrobe, there was nothing. On the wall she caught sight of the painting that Lexa had been talking about. It was a forest scene, amazing shades of green, moonlight coming in through the gaps in the branches and bright blue butterflies flying around that just seemed to glow.

"Wow…" Clarke said as she walked over to it, "this is amazing…"

"She painted it for my 18th…" Lexa replied, walking over to where Clarke was standing, putting her arms around the blonde's waist from behind, resting her chin on Clarke's shoulder, "I actually had no idea she was doing it, which was odd cause she could never keep anything from me…"

"When was your 18th," Clarke asked, really curious about the answer, "I mean, if she painted this for your 18th and… well that was 8 months ago…"

"Her parents gave it to me…" Lexa said, swallowing hard, "she had left it in their loft after she'd finished it. It was only my birthday 3 months ago…"

"That must have been weird…" Clarke replied, her eyes still locked on the painting in front of her.

"Yeah…" Lexa said, "it was. She'd already written out the card to go with it… It was the strangest feeling in the world… Her mom said that maybe Costia knew she wouldn't be here… I don't know…"

"Do you still talk to her parents?" Clarke asked.

"I do…" Lexa said, Clarke knew she was smiling a little, "and her brother… I don't talk to her sister that much though, it's too… it's hard."

"Why?" Clarke asked, turning her head a little to look at Lexa.

"They were identical twins…" Lexa replied, "perfectly identical… it's just too hard for me to look at her and see Costia… She gets it though, we write and email but we never talk…"

"Shit that's tough…" Clarke said quietly.

"You're telling me…" Lexa said with a little laugh, "her mom actually mentioned something about them coming out here soon, they haven't been away as a family since… and my mom was always really close to them, so you might actually get to meet them. All of them…"

"You think you can deal with that?" Clarke asked.

"If you're with me, yes." Lexa replied honestly.

"I'm not going anywhere Lexa," Clarke said, "I promise…"

She slowly turned to face the other girl, Lexa not moving her arms from around her waist. Clarke's heart was pounding in her chest as she noticed Lexa's gaze flick down to her lips before moving back to her eyes. She noticed that Lexa's eyes seemed darker. Slowly she closed the distance between them. The kiss was soft to start with, Lexa running her tongue over Clarke's lower lip, requesting access, access which Clarke gladly gave her. The kiss deepened, yet it was still slow. Clarke was pretty sure she had never felt the way she did when she was kissing Lexa, with anyone else. There was just something different about her. About them together. She nearly came undone on the spot as Lexa moaned into her mouth a little, before backing away. Resting her forehead against Clarke's as she tried to catch her breath.

"We should get back out there…" Lexa said quietly, "food will be here soon…"

"I'm suddenly not hungry…" Clarke replied with a small smile.

"I know the feeling," Lexa said with a smile of her own, "but you have been drinking, if you don't eat something then you'll probably feel really shit in the morning…"

"Where am I sleeping by the way?" Clarke asked as Lexa took her hand and walked them both back towards the door.

"If you have to ask that then you really don't know me at all…" Lexa said, leaning in to kiss Clarke softly, before she moved to open the door.

As she opened the door Octavia and Raven both fell inside the room, landing in a heap on the floor.

"Something we can help you with?" Lexa asked as Clarke fought to stop the laugh from escaping her.

"Food's here…" Octavia said as she and Raven stood up.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Raven and Octavia had already made their way to the spare room, Bellamy, Monty and Jasper were getting ready to sleep in the living room area. Anya had already gone to bed as she didn't want to make too much of an ass of herself while she was drunk. Lincoln was grabbing the spare blankets and sleeping bags for the boys as Clarke and Lexa were in the kitchen area.

"Might want to drink this before we go to bed…" Lexa said, handing Clarke a glass of water.

"I didn't drink that much." Clarke replied, taking the glass from Lexa, their fingers brushing a little as she did.

"Better to be safe rather than sorry," Lexa replied with a laugh, "I do not want to deal with a hung-over you in the morning…"

"I'm usually a terrible morning person anyway." Clarke said with a laugh of her own.

"Great…" Lexa said sarcastically.

"You're not usually that bad," Bellamy said as he walked in to get himself a glass of water, "I've seen worse."

"When did you see Clarke first thing in the morning?" Lexa asked, looking between the two.

"Wow," Bellamy said as he looked from Lexa to Clarke, "remind me not to get on the wrong side of your girl, Princess, that's one scary look… and before you grab a knife and gut me open, it wasn't like that. Everyone spent the night at my house, it was O's birthday."

"That was the night where O was so drunk she ended up sleeping in the bathtub right?" Clarke asked with a laugh.

"Oh god really?" Lexa asked with a laugh.

"I still have the pictures on my phone…" Clarke said, "let me grab it and I'll show you."

"Did you text your mom yet Clarke?" Bellamy asked.

"Oh shit…" Clarke replied, rushing over to get her phone.

"Abby is officially going to kill me." Lexa said.

"It's not like it's that late…" Bellamy said, "I think you'll be okay."

"Bellamy," Lexa said, "it's nearly 3am."

"Oh wow," the boy said with a laugh, "yep, you're so dead. And she's a doctor, she could poison you and no one would ever know it."

"Remind me not to eat anything next time I go over there." Lexa replied with a laugh of her own as Clarke walked back over to them.

"Yes, mom… I know," Clarke said talking to her mother, rolling her eyes at Lexa, which caused the other girl to laugh, "I'm sorry, I know… everyone is staying over, as everyone was drinking… what? Why is that important… no, Lexa's not drunk… don't worry mom, seriously… yes, I'll see you tomorrow… night mom…"

Clarke hung up and let out a very dramatic sigh.

"Lecture?" Bellamy asked.

"Lecture." Clarke replied with a nod, "I said I'd text them if I was staying out…"

"Why did she ask if I was drunk?" Lexa asked, noticing Clarke blush a little, "never mind…"

Lincoln walked back through with the blankets and sleeping bags for the boys.

"This should be enough," Lincoln said, dumping everything on the floor, "it doesn't get that cold in here."

"Thanks dude." Bellamy said as he walked over to the pile, throwing things at Monty and Jasper, "here you go drunkards, get some sleep."

"Night guys…" Lexa said, as she took Clarke's hand.

"You two try and keep the noise down." Bellamy said with a laugh.

"Seriously Blake, you're as bad as my mother." Clarke said with a laugh as she and Lexa walked towards Lexa's room.

As Lexa opened the door to her room, Raven stuck her head out of the room she was sharing with Octavia.

"Remember to close the door this time Princess…" she said with a smirk, ducking back into the room before either Lexa or Clarke could hit her.

Clarke shook her head as Lexa closed the door, she could hear Raven and Octavia both laughing.

"Let me find you something to sleep in…" Lexa said as she walked over to her wardrobe.

Clarke sat on the end of the bed as Lexa tried to find something for her to sleep in. Falling back on the bed she finally noticed the ceiling of the room. Small tiny lights that looked like stars.

"You really have a thing for stars don't you…" she said as Lexa came back carrying a t-shirt and shorts for Clarke.

"Would you believe it actually helps me sleep…" Lexa said, handing Clarke the clothes, "door there leads to my bathroom…"

Clarke groaned as she sat up, really not wanting to move. Lexa took her hand and pulled her up so she was standing, swallowing hard as she hadn't considered how close they would end up with that one movement.

"Hey…" Clarke said, with a small smile.

"Hey…" Lexa replied with a smile of her own, "I need to say something before anything happens here…"

"You don't need to say it Lexa…" Clarke said, kissing her softly, "I don't think either of us are really ready to take it there yet…"

Lexa nodded, letting out the breath she was holding.

"I wish someone would tell my body that…" Lexa said with a laugh, "but I don't want to rush this with you… I want it to be special, and I really don't want a house full of people when it does happen."

"Afraid you won't be able to keep quiet?" Clarke asked with a smirk.

"Oh it was you I was worried about." Lexa replied with a laugh, placing a soft kiss on Clarke's lips, "go get changed, I want to sleep…"

Clarke laughed as she walked through to the bathroom. It wasn't long before Clarke was finished getting changed and made her way back into the bedroom. Lexa was already changed and sitting on the bed, her hair hanging loose as she sat looking down at her phone.

"Which side of the bed do you want?" Lexa asked, putting her phone back down on the bedside table as she heard Clarke walk into the room.

"Either is fine…" Clarke replied.

Lex stood up and pulled the duvet back, climbing into bed she motioned for Clarke to join her, Clarke didn't need telling twice. She felt like her heart was going to burst right out of her chest as Lexa moved closer to her, putting her head on her shoulder as she drew little patterns on her stomach.

"I never pictured myself being like this with anyone again…" Lexa said quietly, so quietly that Clarke almost missed it, "but it just feels right with you…"

Clarke didn't know what to say, so she just held Lexa closer to her and softly kissed her on her head.

"Goodnight Princess…" Lexa said sleepily.

"Sweet dreams…" Clarke replied as they both drifted off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**_A/N: So here we are with another update of this. This part is a lot less cute and fluffy than the rest of it, but don't worry, normal service will be resumed with the next part. For those asking about my other Clexa fic that I'm currently working on, you can read it over on AO3, my user name there is dreaming_wide_awake. Check it out, though it's pretty dark compared to this hunk of fluff. Read, review and enjoy!_**

Chapter Eight

Clarke woke up to hear strange noises and she could feel Lexa moving around in her sleep. Looking over at the other girl she could see that Lexa was having a nightmare.

"Hey…" Clarke said softly, as she tried to wake her, "Lexa…"

She placed her hand on Lexa's shoulder, causing her eyes to snap open.

"It was just a nightmare…" Clarke said, "You're okay."

She could see that Lexa was struggling to steady her breathing, taking gasps of air, which Clarke knew wouldn't help.

"Breathe slowly…" The blonde said, "Slow deep breaths…"

"I'm sorry…" Lexa finally said when her breathing was steady enough for her to talk.

"For what?" Clarke asked with a soft smile, "Having a nightmare? It's not your fault, happens to everyone…"

"Hasn't happened for a while," Lexa replied, "and trust the first time I have a nightmare in months to be when you're here…"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Clarke asked, moving a little closer to where Lexa was laying, "I find it helps me sometimes to talk about it."

Lexa shook her head slightly, her eyes focused on the stars on the ceiling.

"Okay…" Clarke replied, moving so she was lying down again, her head rested on her arm which was folded under her head, "think you can go back to sleep?"

Lexa shook her head again.

"You should though…" she said quietly.

Clarke felt her eyes starting to close again, she was still super tired, and if Lexa didn't want to talk about it she wasn't going to force her.

"It was the same nightmare I have all the time…" Lexa said quietly, "there's a car crash… fire… I'm stood watching and can do nothing about it… the car burns, and I can't move…"

Clarke opened her eyes and looked at the girl next to her. Lexa was still staring at the ceiling, though Clarke could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"And there's screaming…" Lexa continued as she swallowed hard, "always screaming… but this time it wasn't Costia in the car… it was you…"

Lexa turned her head and looked at Clarke.

"And I couldn't get to you…" she said, raising her hand slowly and tracing her finger lightly down Clarke's cheek.

"It was just a nightmare…" Clarke said, reaching across the small distance between them and placing her hand on Lexa's stomach, "I'm right here…"

Lexa nodded a little, moving closer to Clarke.

"And I'm not going anywhere…" Clarke said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep…" Lexa replied as she put her head on Clarke's shoulder and allowed the other girl to hold her as she fell back to sleep.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was a little over a week before the start of the new school term, and a few days after game night. Abby and Jake were going out for a meal, Clarke teased that it was date night, something which the couple tried to do as often as they could. A few times they had actually gone away for the weekend, only after realising that Clarke wouldn't trash the house before they got back. This time they would only be away overnight, checking into a hotel for the night so they could both enjoy the night and not have to worry about cabs home or who was driving. Both Abby and Jake knew that Clarke had invited Lexa over, Abby actually suggesting it. She knew how close the two were, but she also knew from what Clarke had told her, that they had yet to take that next step in their relationship. Though Lexa was working that night at Ark Station she agreed to staying the night at Clarke's, saying she would be there when she finished work.

By 9:30 that night Clarke had run out of things to do to keep herself busy, and she couldn't just sit and watch television because she was getting restless. So she decided that she would catch up on social media, having not been on her Facebook account for close to a week. As she signed in she noticed she had near on 30 messages, and 50 notifications about wall posts. Most of the wall posts were from Finn, stupid little video's and pictures he thought she should see. The messages were all from Finn. She checked the date on the first message, it was from the day after the incident at Ark Station. It was a simple message, saying how sorry he was for acting like a dick. As she read through the rest of the messages she realised that he must have been drunk while writing some of them. By message number 15 she decided that she didn't need to read anymore as Finn laid out in perfect detail why he would be better for her than Lexa. She closed her laptop with a sigh and grabbed her jacket, deciding to walk to Ark Station to meet Lexa.

It was a walk that would take her around 30 minutes, meaning she would get there at about 10:30, with Ark Station closing at 11. Then once Lexa had closed up, they could head back to hers together. One thing Clarke hadn't thought about was how cold it would be outside. She hated walking the streets of New York alone at night at the best of times, when it was cold she hated it even more as people tended to stay indoors so the streets were pretty empty. Pulling her jacket around her she continued walking. Not long after she left her neighbourhood she heard a car pull up next to her, glancing at it she saw that it was Finns car.

"Where are you headed to?" he called out of the window to her.

"Ark Station," Clarke replied as she kept walking, "I'm going to meet Lexa…"

She was sure she could see his jaw tense up when she mentioned Lexa.

"Do you want a lift?" he asked, "I'm heading that way anyway, going to meet the boys in the factory district."

"No thanks," Clarke replied, "I actually enjoy the walk."

"Clarke," Finn said, "it's got to be close to freezing out there, seriously, just get in the car."

Considering what Finn had just said, Clarke actually involuntarily shivered, her body obviously feeling the cold.

"Okay…" she said with a sigh, knowing the drive would only take around 10 minutes.

As she got into Finns car she suddenly noticed the slight lingering smell of alcohol, she didn't know if Finn was drunk or if his car had been used for drinking sessions recently, but she just forced that thought to the back of her mind as he started driving.

"You ready for the new school year to start?" he asked, casually making conversation to pass the time.

"Yeah," Clarke replied, "I need to go shopping before the term starts though, which I'm pretty sure Octavia will be happy about."

"That girl seriously loves shopping," Finn said with a laugh, Clarke nodding in agreement, "how's it going with that guy she's with, what's his name…"

"Lincoln." Clarke replied, "and it's…complicated right now."

"In what way?" Finn asked, glancing over at the blonde before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Not my place to say," Clarke said, "you'll have to ask O."

"How's it going with you and Lexa?" he asked.

"It's good." She replied, not wanting to get into that conversation right now.

"Do you ever wonder what might have happened between us?" he asked, "I mean, if I'd met you before I met Raven?"

"I used to," Clarke replied honestly, "but honestly, it doesn't really cross my mind too much anymore because you did meet Raven first."

He nodded a little, as they pulled up at the last set of lights before Ark Station. From where they were sitting in the car Clarke could see Lexa, Raven and Octavia standing outside, talking and laughing about something. A small smile coming to her lips when she saw them all getting along so well. It had been something that worried her about the whole Octavia/Lincoln/Raven thing, because obviously Lexa was always going to side with Lincoln and she was always going to side with the girls.

Finn looked over at Clarke and saw the small smile before following her eyes and see what had her smiling.

"Did you get the chance to read the messages I sent on Facebook?" he asked.

"Some of them…" Clarke replied.

"And what did you think?" he asked in reply, his foot tapping the gas pedal as his mind started running away with itself.

"I think you were probably drunk when you wrote most of them…" Clarke replied, not looking at him.

"You ever consider how this summer break could've been different if she wasn't here?" Finn asked.

"Finn…" Clarke said, "You don't want to get into this, trust me. Just let me out here."

Clarke heard a click as the doors all locked.

"Finn…" Clarke said, "Please, just let me out."

He didn't say a word as the lights turned green.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

While they were chatting Lexa heard a car screeching away from the lights a little further down the street, it didn't really bother her so much as it made her jump as the streets around Ark Station were usually pretty quiet at that time of night. She had spent most of the day internally freaking out about spending the night at Clarke's, so lost in her thoughts that she had given at least 6 people the wrong orders.

"Isn't that Finns car?" Octavia asked as she looked down the street.

"Yeah," Raven replied as she caught sight of the car, "and he's driving like a dick, as usual…"

They went back to their conversation again before they heard brakes screech again as the car slowed a little. Lexa looked at the car and saw that Clarke was in the passenger seat.

"Oh shit…" she said as the car turned towards them.

Before anyone else could react Lexa pushed the other girls to the side a little as she saw Clarke grab the wheel, pulling it towards her. The car slowed a little before hitting the wall of the building next to where they were standing.

"Clarke…" Lexa said, standing up and rushing over to the car.

As she made her way over she could see that the damage to the car wasn't that bad, not as bad as it would've been if it had kept going at the speed it had been. When she, Raven and Octavia reached the car they saw the driver's side door open and Finn stumble out before he started running.

"You're a dead man!" Lexa shouted after him.

"Lexa," Raven said, looking between Lexa and the blonde who was slumped over in the passenger seat, "we need to get this door open…"

It didn't take long for them to get the door open, as they did Clarke sat up. Lexa could see a nasty cut to her head, the blood running down the side of her face.

"Hey…" Lexa said, crouching down next to Clarke, "hold still…"

"What the fuck just happened?" Raven asked as Lexa did a quick check for injuries.

"He was aiming for you…" Clarke managed to say as she looked at Lexa.

"I knew he was twisted," Octavia said as she grabbed her phone out of her pocket, "but that's some fucked up shit… I'm going to call an ambulance."

"If we can get her to my car, it'll be quicker…" Lexa said as she unbuckled Clarke's seatbelt.

Having heard the noise a lot of people had come out of Ark Station, Lincoln included, as soon as he saw what was happening he rushed over.

"What happened?" he asked as he saw his sister helping Clarke from the car.

"Finn…" Lexa replied.

"He was drunk…" Clarke said, "I didn't know that when I got in the car… or I wouldn't have…"

"It's okay…" Lexa said to her, "We're going to get you to the hospital, get you checked over…"

Clarke nodded a little. Lexa looked at Lincoln.

"Can you get her to my car?" Lexa asked, "I need to go and get my keys…"

"Sure," he replied, moving over to Clarke, putting his arm around her waist as she put her arm around his shoulders, "tell Anya to close up, I'll come with you."

"We're all going." Raven said.

Lexa nodded as she rushed back inside to get her keys. Lincoln knew that she was on autopilot, what had just happened wouldn't have registered in her head yet, and when it did he was sure there'd be fireworks.

"What the hell is going on?" Anya asked as she saw Lexa rush past her.

"I need my keys…" Lexa said as she headed towards the back office.

"Lexa," Anya replied, "slow down and tell me what's going on."

"Finn just drove his car into a wall…" Lexa said, opening the office door and grabbing her jacket which had her car keys in it, "with Clarke in the passenger seat."

"Shit," Anya said, "is she okay?"

"Cut to her head," Lexa replied, putting her jacket on and walking back out of the office past her sister, "we're taking her to the hospital."

"Call an ambulance." Anya said, grabbing Lexa's arm, "seriously, will you slow down for two minutes and think this through."

"I can't…" Lexa replied honestly, "I can't slow down, I can't think…"

Anya sighed as Lexa pulled her arm free of her hand and went back outside.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The journey to the hospital had only taken a matter of minutes, Octavia had called Abby during the drive, letting her know what had happened so one of her colleagues at the hospital didn't call her and freak her out. Now they were sitting in the ER waiting room as the doctors checked Clarke over. Abby had arrived not long after they had, Jake was obviously with her.

Now that she had actually had time to stop and think, Lexa was pacing backwards and forwards.

"She's okay Lexa." Lincoln said from where he was sitting next to Octavia.

He watched as his sister nodded as she continued pacing, he could see her anger building. There were tell-tale signs, signs that the whole family had been aware of in the last 8 months, and right now all those signs were there. The pacing, the lack of talking, her hands were balled into fists.

"Lexa…" he said, standing up and walking over to her, "come and sit down."

"I don't want to sit down," she said, shrugging his arm off from where he'd placed it around her shoulders, "I hate hospitals… I hate cars…"

Lincoln could see what was coming as Lexa walked closer to the wall.

"And I hate drunk fucking idiots who think it's okay to get behind the wheel of a car." She concluded as she punched her fist straight at the wall.

Lincoln was thankful at that moment that Abby had taken them to one of the more private waiting areas, and they were the only ones in there, because when his sister got like this it was better that no one else was around. He didn't say a word as he went and sat back down, Octavia and Raven had obviously never seen Lexa like this and were a little shocked by what had just happened. The door to the waiting area opened and Abby walked in, just as Lexa was standing there looking at her hand as her knuckles started to bleed.

"She's going to be fine," Abby said, looking at everyone, "we're keeping her in overnight as is customary with a head injury, but she's going to be fine."

The others nodded while Lexa just stood there looking down at her hand. Abby walked over to her. As she noticed the movement towards her Lexa looked up at the woman walking towards her.

"I need some air…" she said and attempted to walk past Abby.

"Let me clean your hand up." Abby replied.

"It's fine," Lexa said, "I need some air…"

"You need to let me clean your hand up," Abby said a little more sternly, in her best doctor voice, "now."

Lexa nodded a little as Abby put her arm around Lexa's shoulder before she looked back at the others.

"We won't be long." She said to Lincoln, who just nodded in reply.

Abby took them into a small room, closing the door behind her she motioned for Lexa to sit in the chair.

"She's going to be fine, Lexa." Abby said, as she sat opposite the girl, gently taking her hand, using a saline solution to clean her knuckles.

"She should've waited at home…" Lexa replied, "I told her I would meet her there after I finished work… she should've waited…"

"This isn't your fault." Abby said, holding a small padded material over Lexa's knuckles to slow the bleeding.

Lexa didn't say anything, she just looked down at her hand.

"Clarke didn't tell me what happened," Abby continued, "I was hoping you could…"

"I have no idea how she ended up in his car…" Lexa replied, "he was driving her towards Ark Station… screeching away from the lights… he slowed the car before turning towards where Raven, Octavia and I were standing… Clarke pulled the wheel…"

"Who was driving the car Lexa?" Abby asked.

"Finn…" the girl replied, "and he was drunk…"

"Was he hurt?" Abby asked, her doctors instinct taking over from the mothers instinct at that moment.

"No," Lexa said, "at least I don't think he was… he got out of the car, and ran… so no, I don't think he was hurt. But if I see him again…"

"You can't think like that." Abby replied as she checked to see if the bleeding had slowed down, it had, and she could see that Lexa didn't need sutures.

"Are you telling me you wouldn't do it?" Lexa asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Abby.

"As a doctor it's my job to heal people," Abby said, "not hurt them…"

"I'm not asking you as a doctor…" Lexa replied, "as her mother are you saying you wouldn't do it…"

Abby didn't reply, she didn't think it would do Lexa any good if she did.

"Thought as much…" Lexa said, "I hope I didn't damage the wall…"

"As it's solid concrete I doubt you did much damage," Abby replied with a small smile as she wrapped a bandage around Lexa's knuckles, "do you want to see Clarke?"

"Would that be okay…?" Lexa asked, in that one moment, with that one question, reminding Abby that she was just a child.

"She was asleep when I came to see you," Abby said, standing up and holding the door open for Lexa, "and visiting hours are over, but a few minutes won't hurt."

Abby took Lexa to a private room, not far from the small room they had just been in, she opened the door letting Lexa in. The main light was off, the only light in the room coming from the small side light on the wall. Lexa could see that Clarke was still sleeping.

"I'll be right out here…" Abby said quietly as Lexa walked into the room, and she closed the door.

Lexa moved the chair which was near the wall over to the side of the bed. There was a dressing over the cut on Clarke's head, which Lexa assumed had sutures under it, other than that it looked like Clarke was pretty much injury free. Lexa sat in the chair and softly took Clarke's hand in hers, watching the other girl sleep. As she carefully lifted Clarke's hand to her lips, softly kissing her fingers, the blonde girl woke up.

"Hey…" Lexa said, "I didn't mean to wake you…"

"You okay?" Clarke asked her.

"You're the one in a hospital bed, and you're asking me if I'm okay…" Lexa said with a small laugh, "yeah, I'm okay."

"What happened to your hand…?" Clarke asked as she looked down at where Lexa's hands were holding hers.

"I may have had a small disagreement with a wall…" Lexa replied as she looked down at her own hand.

"How's the wall?" Clarke asked with a small smile.

"It's doing pretty good." Lexa replied with a nod and a little smile of her own.

"Can you do something for me?" Clarke asked her.

"Anything…" Lexa replied honestly.

"Promise me you're not going to go after him…" Clarke said, noticing how Lexa's clenched her jaw, "Lexa please… promise me you're not going to go after him. He isn't worth it."

"Okay…" Lexa replied with a nod.

"Promise…" the blonde girl said.

"I promise." Lexa said with a sigh.

"Good…" Clarke replied with a smile, "well, this certainly isn't how I had imagined spending the night…"

"Why didn't you just wait at home?" Lexa asked, never taking her eyes off the girl who was laying on the bed in front of her.

"I was bored," Clarke said with a laugh, "I tried watching television but I just ended up channel hopping, which sucks. I figured I'd meet you from work, then we could go back together…"

"We need to get you a car…" Lexa said.

"Tell that to my parents." Clarke replied.

Lexa laughed a little as there was a soft knock on the door.

"Looks like I've got to go…" Lexa said with a little smile, "but I'll come and see you when you get home tomorrow, okay?"

"Can you come and take me home tomorrow?" Clarke asked.

"Sure…" Lexa replied with a little nod as she stood up, "sweet dreams Princess…"

Lexa placed a soft kiss on Clarke's forehead before she turned and left the room.

"Rules are rules." Abby said with a smile as Lexa closed the door behind her.

"Rules suck." Lexa replied, "she wants me to drive her home tomorrow… is that okay with you?"

"I don't see why not." Abby replied, "I think your brother is getting worried about you. Octavia and Raven already went home."

Lexa nodded a little and started the walk back towards the waiting area, she stopped and turned back.

"Oh, Abby," she said, as Abby turned back to look at her, "we are going to have to get her a car you know…"

"Goodnight Lexa." Abby replied, as Lexa laughed a little and went to find Lincoln.

Lexa walked into the waiting area, Lincoln stood up as he saw her. She just walked straight over to him, he wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head in his chest.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"I'm just happy it wasn't me that you decided to punch." He said, resting his chin on her head, "and I'm happy that Clarke's going to be okay."

"I need the day off tomorrow…" she said looking up at him, "can you cover me?"

He laughed a little as he nodded.

"Oh, you know that Buick we saw the other day…" She said as she wrapped her arm around his waist, leaning into him as they walked from the hospital, "do you think it's still there?"

"The 1969 Skylark?" he asked, to which she nodded in reply, "probably, I can check tomorrow if you want. I thought you loved your Mustang."

"I do," Lexa replied, "it's not for me, it's for Clarke…"

"You've been with the girl two weeks and you're already wanting to buy her a car?" he asked with a laugh as Lexa moved to unlock her car.

Lincoln noticed Lexa stop what she was doing, he followed her eye line and saw what she was looking at.

"Get in the car." She said handing him the keys before she walked off in the direction of Finn.

"Lexa…" Lincoln said, following after her.

Lexa walked over to Finn, who hadn't seen her, grabbed him by his jacket and threw him into the parking lot wall.

"What the fuck!" Finn said as Lexa put her arm across his upper chest holding him against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see if she was okay." Finn replied, "I'm really sorry about what happened, I wasn't thinking straight… I was…"

"Drunk," Lexa interrupted, "yes, I know…"

"If you're going to hit me just get on with it already," Finn said, "its no less than I deserve for what I've done. I never meant to hurt her, you have to believe me."

"You're pathetic," she said, "you know that… and I'm not going to hit you…"

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I made a promise that I wouldn't," she replied, "but I will say this, if you ever go near her again I will make you wish that you'd never been born, understand?"

He nodded a little and Lexa stepped back.

"Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind…" she said, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Look at you managing your anger…" Lincoln said with a laugh as he walked up next to Lexa as she watched Finn leave.

"My shrink would be so proud…" Lexa replied.

Lincoln laughed a little as he once again wrapped his arm around Lexa's shoulder, as they walked back to her car.

"Well I'm proud of you," he said, "and I know Clarke would be too."

"A promise is a promise…" Lexa replied as they got in the car and drove home.

Since Costia had died Lexa had always struggled with her emotions. Always trying to keep everything she had felt bottled up. Costia's death itself had left her feeling angry, it seemed like such a total waste of a promising life, and Lexa had also felt that when Costia died, a part of her died along with her. Indra had talked her into talking to someone about it, as she didn't want to burden her family with it, though they would never see it that way. It's also why she had taken up kickboxing, a way to get all her anger out in a safe and controlled manner, which had been Lincoln's idea. She had always been very protective of the people she cared about, Clarke had quickly become a very important person in her life, and Lexa would do anything and everything that she could to make sure she was safe.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Just a short chapter to tie up some of what happened in the last part. Don't forget to drop me a review. Enjoy**_

Chapter Nine

Abby had called Lexa telling her that the hospital would be releasing Clarke at 2pm that afternoon if she still wanted to take her home, which of course she did. In the few hours she had between the phone call and collecting Clarke, Lexa had gone to check the used car lot to see if the Buick she had seen was still there. She'd always had a massive soft spot for classic cars, something about the way the engine's purred and the old style feel of the cars always made her enjoy driving more. It had taken her a while after Costia's death to get behind the wheel of a car again, it had taken her even longer to be relaxed again when driving. She knew that Abby and Jake were disagreeing about getting Clarke a car, she understood why and she totally got what Abby had meant when she said that in New York you didn't really need a car. There was a good public transport system and a few of Clarke's friends had cars, but Lexa would feel better if she knew the blonde had transport of her own. After double checking with Jake, who she knew would be on her side with the decision, she had bought the Buick.

Raven had gone with her, just to double check the car for herself, not that Lexa didn't trust the dealer at the lot, she just knew for her own peace of mind that having Raven check the car over would be a good idea. The other girl had told her that the engine needed a little bit of work, so instead of driving the car to Clarke's for when she got home, Raven took it to the garage, so she could get all the work that needed to be done sorted as quickly as she could. She had told Lexa it would be done before the new school term started, which was only a few days away. There was one weekend left before they went back to school, before Lexa started her final year in a new school. When she had first moved to New York she had been terrified about the idea of starting at a new school, coming close to convincing Indra that she could be home schooled for the last year. Indra knew that Lexa had a hard time making friends, she had closed out all but her closest friends after Costia died, and hadn't bothered socialising with anyone who she didn't have to. Lexa was intelligent, and really enjoyed her school work, so Indra had promised, as a last resort, that if Lexa hated the school that much then she would get her a tutor. Everyone knew, now she had met Clarke, and made friends with Clarke's friends, none of that was going to be a problem.

Lexa arrived at the hospital a little before 2pm and made her way to the room where Clarke had been the previous night. As she walked up to the room she saw Abby talking to two men. One of them was in uniform, he was a cop. Lexa could tell by looking at the other one that he must've been a detective. She waited a little way away from the room while Abby talked to the men, the door to the room was open, which told her that they must have been talking to Clarke before she got there. Abby met her gaze and smiled a little, letting Lexa know that everything was okay. As the men walked past her Lexa pushed herself away from the wall where she had been waiting and made her way over to where Abby was standing.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"They arrested Finn this morning," Abby replied, "They also mentioned they had been at Ark Station this morning so I assumed you already knew."

"No…" Lexa said shaking her head a little, "Lincoln is covering my shift today, I had something to do before coming here…"

"I know about the car Lexa." Abby said quietly.

"Abby…" Lexa said, looking down at her feet.

"Its fine," the other woman replied with a little smile, "just don't make a habit of going behind my back. I know you talked to Jake about it, but he would give Clarke the world if she wanted it… As would I, but this was something that we disagreed about."

"At least now you won't have to worry about designated drivers," Lexa said with a smirk, "and she can take herself to and from school. She can drive right?"

"You didn't think about that till now?" Abby asked with a laugh, "Yes, she can drive."

Lexa smiled as she shook her head a little, she really hadn't thought it through before she bought the car.

"Does she know?" Lexa asked, looking from Abby into the room where Clarke was sitting on the edge of the bed looking out of the window.

"No," Abby replied, "I thought I'd let you tell her, as it's your surprise."

"Thanks…" Lexa said, a small smile coming to her lips as Clarke looked at her.

Abby didn't say anything else as she walked away, leaving Lexa to go and see Clarke.

"How are you feeling?" Lexa asked as she walked into the room.

"I ache, everywhere…" Clarke said with a little laugh, "and my head hurts. They've given me some painkillers though, mom said they'll probably make me tired, so I wanted to wait to get home before I took them. Did she tell you about Finn?"

"Yeah," Lexa replied, "she did."

"Apparently even if I don't want to press charges they're going to do it anyway…" Clarke said quietly.

"How can you not want to press charges?" Lexa asked sitting next to Clarke on the bed, "He was drunk, behind the wheel of a car, with you in the passenger seat. It could've been a lot worse than a knock to the head Clarke."

"I know, I know," Clarke said, "but I think there's more to his drinking than he's letting on. He has a problem, and he needs help."

"He could've killed you Clarke…" Lexa said quietly.

"But he didn't," the blonde replied, "and the guy I made friends with is still in there somewhere…"

"What are they charging him with?" Lexa asked, clenching her jaw as she tried to keep herself calm.

She knew Clarke just wanted to help Finn, it's the kind of person she was, wanting to save everybody. Whether they deserved it or not. Lexa could think of a lot of things that Finn deserved, and help wasn't one of them.

"Being drunk while in control of a motor vehicle," Clarke said, "criminal damage… reckless endangerment, whatever that means…"

"That charge is because you were in the car," Lexa said, "basically means that he recklessly endangered your life… With those charges at his age, he'll be lucky if he gets away without jail time…"

"What if he pleads guilty or something," Clarke replied, "that will count for something won't it…"

Lexa rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"Sorry…" Clarke said, "I just…"

"I know," Lexa said, taking hold of Clarke's hand, "I know, but this is serious Clarke, he could've killed you, I don't care how sorry he claims to be…"

"You've seen him?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah," Lexa replied, "last night…"

"You promised that you wouldn't…" Clarke started to say.

"I didn't go looking for him," Lexa said, interrupting her, "he was outside when Lincoln and I left last night…"

Lexa could feel Clarke looking at her, it was like the blonde girl was burning a hole in her soul.

"I didn't hurt him…" Lexa continued, "I wanted to, I really wanted to, but I didn't… I may have threatened him, pinned him up against the wall, but I didn't hurt him…"

"Thank you…" Clarke said quietly.

"I don't make promises unless I intend to keep them." Lexa replied, looking at Clarke, "I promised you I would do anything to him, and I didn't. Let's get you home…"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lexa parked her car next to Jakes just outside Clarke's house, the blonde was out of the car before she had a chance to go and open the door for her. The front door opened as they walked up the steps, Jake pulling Clarke into a hug before she could even set foot through the door.

"Hey honey…" he said kissing her on the head.

"Hey dad…" Clarke replied, resting her head against his chest.

They stood there for a few moments, Lexa smiling softly at the sight.

"Hey Lexa." Jake said over Clarke's head.

"Hey." Lexa replied.

"I need to go to the office for a little while," Jake said as Clarke backed out of the hug, "they're having some kind of emergency with one of the water filters, if I didn't…"

"Dad," Clarke said with a smile, "go, its fine."

"You sure?" Jake asked, "I mean you've just got home."

"I'm sure." The blonde replied with a nod, "and it's not like I'm on my own, Lexa's here… you are staying right?"

There was a look in Clarke's eyes that made Lexa's heart ache as she looked at her.

"I'm not going anywhere…" Lexa said as Clarke reached back and took her hand.

"I shouldn't be too long," Jake said, kissing Clarke on the head as he walked out of the door, "a couple of hours, tops."

Once he was in his car Clarke and Lexa walked into the house and closed the door.

"So…" Clarke said as they walked into the living room, "I need to shower. I won't be long, do you want to pick out a movie in the den or something?"

"Sure." Lexa replied with a smile, "Are you hungry, I can get you something to eat."

"I ate at the hospital," Clarke said with a smile of her own, "one of the perks of your mom being head of ER, you actually get some nice food."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

While Clarke was showering Lexa looked through the DVD's in the den. After Lexa had picked out a movie, deciding on Fast 6, as she hadn't seen that one, she was standing and looking out of the window. She didn't hear Clarke walk up behind her, but she did know that she was there before the other girl wrapped her arms around Lexa's waist from behind.

"You okay…?" Clarke asked quietly, as Lexa covered her hands with her own, linking their fingers together.

"Yeah…" Lexa replied with a small sigh.

There was something about the way she felt with Clarke's arms around her, it was like she felt safe, a feeling that she hadn't felt for a while. It was a feeling of home that Lexa believed she had never totally felt, not with anyone, and that was starting to scare her. She had only know Clarke for two weeks, and although they had decided to take things slowly on the physical front, Lexa already knew that she was finished emotionally. She wasn't one for getting emotionally attached, usually it was something that took months for her, but with Clarke it had been almost instant. The blonde girl was the first thing that Lexa thought about when she woke in the morning, and she was the last thing that crossed her mind before she fell asleep at night. Something deep inside her felt guilty admitting that, but the little voice in her head told her that Costia would want her to be happy.

"What are you thinking…?" Clarke asked as she felt Lexa tense up slightly.

"I was just thinking how easy all of this is…" Lexa replied honestly.

"How easy what is?" Clarke asked in reply.

"This…" Lexa said, "with you… everything is just so easy…"

Lexa turned to face the blonde girl, the way Clarke was looking at her made her breath catch in her throat a little, which caused Clarke to smile as her cheeks started to turn that tell-tale shade of pink.

"After Costia…" Lexa said, "I never thought that I would want to be with anyone again, I was destroyed, as a person I was totally destroyed…"

Clarke brought her hands up from where they were on Lexa's waist to cup her cheeks, seeing the pain in Lexa's eyes.

"You don't have to…" Clarke started to say.

"I know," Lexa replied, "but I want to…"

Clarke nodded a little, letting Lexa know she could continue.

"When we moved here it was supposed to be a fresh start," Lexa said, "but I didn't think it would be, I just figured that it was somewhere else for me to be miserable… I thought that I'd just keep going through the motions, existing but never really living. I didn't think I deserved it… then I met you…Even by the end of that first day I couldn't stop thinking about you… the way your eyes sparkle when you smile… You made me realise that existing in this world isn't enough for me anymore… surviving isn't enough…"

Lexa closed her eyes, taking a deep breath she rested her forehead against Clarke's, grounding herself in the present.

"I'm seriously falling for you Clarke…" she said quietly, "and I don't think I could stop myself, even if I wanted to…"

"So don't…" Clarke replied, closing the small gap between their lips.

x-x-x-x-x-x

When Jake arrived back from the office a few hours later the house was pretty quiet. He saw a light upstairs coming from the den, but heard no noise. Making his way upstairs and into the den he couldn't stop the small smile creeping over his lips at the sight that met him. The girls had obviously been watching a movie, but it had long since finished and was back on the start screen. They were both sleeping on the sofa, Lexa laying on her back, Clarke on her front. Her head resting on Lexa's chest, the other girl's arms protectively around her as she slept. Clarke's arm was over Lexa's waist, her hand gripped onto Lexa's shirt just above her hip, like she didn't want to let go even when sleeping. Smiling to himself, Jake took the blanket from the back of the sofa and laid it over them softly. Turning the light off as he left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: sorry for the massive delay with this, the muse wasn't playing ball. Rating change with the next part. Read, review and enjoy.**_

A few days had passed since Lexa had driven Clarke home from the hospital. The blonde had been pretty quiet, deciding to spend most of her time while Lexa was working closed away in her loft painting. It had taken some convincing but she'd agreed to go to the end of summer break party that Octavia was throwing. Lexa and Lincoln both had the night off, Lexa having the following day off as well.

"We don't have to be here you know Clarke," Lexa said as she parked her car outside the Blake's house, "I can take you home if you want…"

"I promised O I'd come…" the blonde said with a sigh as she looked at the house, "it's just going to be weird to be around everyone… I wonder how many of them know what happened with Finn."

"You mean how he got drunk and drove his car into a wall with you in the passenger seat?" Lexa asked, mentally kicking herself for snapping at Clarke.

"I was talking about the fact he got arrested…" Clarke replied, moving to open the door and get out of the car.

"Clarke…" Lexa said, reaching over and softly taking hold of the other girl's wrist, stopping her getting out of the car, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean it to come out that way. You just seem to be more concerned about what is going to happen to him than you are about what he did. He could've killed you Clarke…"

"He's a good guy, Lexa, you didn't know him before all of this…" the blonde replied, sitting back in the seat.

"You mean when he was hitting on you when he was still with Raven?" Lexa asked, unable to stop herself, "yeah, seems like the perfect candidate for guy of the year…"

Lexa closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat, hearing the car door slam she opened her eyes to see Clarke walking towards the house.

"Oh this is going to be so much fun…" Lexa said to herself as she rolled her eyes and got out of the car.

Lexa walked into the house after Clarke, the music of the party already blaring out. She made her way through the small groups of people she didn't know and into the kitchen where Raven was sitting on the island, drink in hand, talking to Octavia, Bellamy and Lincoln.

"And here's the other half of my favourite couple," Raven said, raising her beer bottle as she saw Lexa, "what's going on with Clarke? She walked in here, picked up a drink and went and sat by the pool, on her own. You two fighting?"

"Minor disagreement," Lexa replied, getting herself a drink, "that offer of a room still open O?"

"Of course," Octavia said with a little smile, "I think most people who drove here are planning on crashing here anyway. Maybe you should go and talk to Clarke before you start drinking though."

"What was the argument about?" Bellamy asked, leaning back against the table as he looked at Lexa.

"Finn." Lexa replied, opening the bottle she had in her hand, "she's more worried about what's going to happen to him, than she is about what he actually did… She tried telling me he was a good guy before all this, and I pointed out to her that he had been hitting on her when he was still with Raven… That doesn't make someone a good guy, makes them a sleezebag…"

"He had some redeeming qualities." Bellamy said.

"Name one." Raven said to him with a laugh, "come on, he was never all there, not really… some of the shit he pulled when we were together…"

"What kind of shit?" Octavia asked, her face full of confusion.

"That's not important now…" Raven said with a shrug, before she looked at Lexa, "maybe you should go and talk to Clarke, I mean you two never fight, ever."

Lexa nodded and looked out of the huge double doors which lead to the pool area, she could see Clarke sitting on the edge of the pool by herself, she knew that she had to go and talk to her. Taking a deep breath she walked outside.

"Leave me alone…" Clarke said, before Lexa even reached her.

"Clarke…" Lexa said quietly, as she sat down next to the blonde, "I shouldn't have snapped like that, I'm sorry…"

"You think I'm an idiot don't you…" The blonde said with a sigh.

"No," Lexa replied, shaking he head a little, "I just think that you're trying to see good in a person where there isn't actually that much good. I know I didn't know him before, but from everything I've heard, and seen, the guy is a bit of a dick."

Clarke laughed a little.

"Even Raven thinks he doesn't have that many redeeming qualities," Lexa said, nudging Clarke a little, "that's got to tell you something right…"

"Lets make a deal," Clarke said, looking at Lexa, "let's not talk about him any more tonight."

"I can do that." Lexa replied with a small smile and a nod.

"As you're drinking, I guess we're staying here tonight." Clarke said as she rested her head on Lexa's shoulder.

"We can get a cab if you want to go home…" Lexa replied, "I wasn't really thinking, I just…"

"Hey guys," Octavia said, sticking her head outside, "Monty is starting a Quarters game, you in?"

"Hell yes," Clarke said, looking back at her friend, "I am unbeatable at that game."

"Lex?" Octavia said, "you up for it?"

"Why not." Lexa replied with a small smile as she turned her head and looked at the younger girl.

"They both said yes," Octavia said rather loudly as she walked back inside, "we might actually get to see Lexa drunk for once."

"You know how to play Quarters right?" Clarke asked Lexa.

"Pretty sure I remember how to play it," Lexa said with a laugh, "bounce a quarter off the table and try and get it in the glass, if it doesn't go in the glass you have to drink, if it does you pick someone else to drink."

"Yep," The blonde said with a smile, "that's pretty much it. You will lose by the way."

"That sounds like fighting talk Griffin." Lexa said with a smirk.

"Just a friendly warning in advance." Clarke said, kissing Lexa softly, "can we not fight anymore, about anything, I hate fighting with you."

"I'm not sure we can just agree to not fight about anything ever," Lexa replied with a laugh, "but how about we agree to talk about it before one of us storms off?"

"Deal." Clarke said.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Ten minutes into the game of Quarters, Lexa was regretting her decision to play. Clarke, Raven, Octavia and Bellamy were all good at it, and they all picked Lexa to drink. They obviously really wanted to see her drunk. A small crowd had gathered around the table to watch. Lincoln had just taken his turn, making it three in a row for him, meaning he got to make a new rule for the game.

"What's the new rule then Lincoln?" Clarke asked as she drank the drink.

"No one can make Lexa drink for the next 4 rounds." Lincoln said, looking over at Lexa.

"Awww, you worried about her?" Bellamy asked.

"Well she doesn't usually drink," Lincoln said, "and the fact that she's started sticking her tongue out a bit when she's concentrating means she wasted."

Everyone laughed as Lexa poked her tongue out at Lincoln.

"You're actually putting that back in your mouth?" Octavia asked, "I mean, with where it's been and everything are you sure that's hygienic?"

"Where do you think it's been O?" Lexa asked, arching her eyebrow a little, a smirk firmly on her lips.

"Well…" Octavia replied looking between Lexa and Clarke.

"You two haven't…?" Raven asked, the shock clearly written on her face.

"Nope." Clarke said with a little laugh.

"Seriously?" Raven asked again.

"Can we not talk about my sister's sex life please." Lincoln replied, scrunching his face up a little, "I mean I know we're close, but that's something I don't want to know about."

"Some things are worth waiting for…" Lexa said, her eyes locked with Clarke's, the blonde girl blushing a little as her heart started racing.

"Did it just get hot in here?" Monty asked with a laugh, "Lexa, it's your turn."

"Right…" Lexa replied, picking the quarter off the table.

Everyone watched as Lexa narrowed her eyes a little, and her tongue poked out from between her lips a little. Clarke couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped her, breaking Lexa's concentration, but also letting Lexa know that she had poked her tongue out again. She clamped her lips together and looked at the glasses in the middle of the table.

"She is so gonna miss…" Octavia muttered to Raven who laughed.

Lexa bounced the quarter and it landed in the glass. She looked at Octavia and smirked.

"Looks like you're drinking O…" she said.

x-x-x-x-x

After a few more rounds, Lexa excused herself from the game, she really couldn't play anymore, she could barely see the quarter, let alone the glass. She made her way to the kitchen and got herself some water. While she was having a drink she heard someone walking up behind her. She jumped a little as she felt arms going around her waist from behind. She knew who it was.

"Probably shouldn't do that," she said, "I've got a girlfriend, you know."

"Oh yeah?" Clarke asked, kissing Lexa's neck, "what's she like?"

"Stubborn as hell." Lexa replied with a slight laugh, "but she's really cute so she can get away with it."

"Really cute huh?" Clarke said, "that's the best you've got?"

"Really cute isn't enough?" Lexa asked as she turned and faced the blonde, "how about the most beautiful person I've ever met, both inside and out…"

"You get really soppy when you're drunk…" Clarke said with a smile as she closed the distance between them and kissed Lexa.

The kiss started of slow, but it didn't take long for it to start to build into something more. Lexa backed Clarke up to the island, her hands never straying from the other girls hips. Clarke jumped up onto the island, Lexa moving so she was standing between her legs, as the kiss continued. The brunette found that she couldn't get her brain to work properly, the alcohol clouding her mind and all she could think about was the blonde in front of her. She put her hands on Clarke's thighs and pushed herself away a little.

"Can't…" she said breathlessly.

"Damn right you can't," Octavia said from the doorway, "we have to eat breakfast off there. At least take it upstairs."

"What's going on?" Raven asked walking up behind Octavia.

Raven couldn't stop the laugh as she saw Clarke sitting on the island and Lexa looking like a kid who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Well it looks like alcohol loosens someone up huh?" Raven said continuing to laugh.

"Fuck you asshole." Lexa mumbled.

Clarke jumped down from the island and took Lexa's hand, leading her outside, they both needed some air. As they walked out Clarke flipped Octavia and Raven the finger.

"Classy Princess," Raven called after them, "real classy."

"And that…" Lexa grumbled as she dropped herself down onto one of the sun-loungers, "is another reason I don't like to drink…"

Clarke laughed a little as she sat down next to where Lexa was laying.

"It wasn't that bad." She said.

"Wasn't that bad?" Lexa asked, moving her arm from where it was rested across her eyes, "Clarke, I nearly fucked you on the island in Octavia's kitchen. I am never going to live that down…"

"Well I wasn't exactly trying to stop you was I…" the blonde said with a laugh as she leant down and kissed Lexa again.

"Not the point…" Lexa mumbled against Clarke's lips.

"No screwing on the sun-lounger either!" Bellamy shouted from the doorway.

"We were talking." Clarke shouted back.

"Right," the older Blake said, "talking… who knew I'd been talking wrong all these years. Take it upstairs Princess."

"That might not be a bad idea actually…" Clarke said quietly as she looked down at Lexa.

"Later…" Lexa replied with a smirk, "I wouldn't mind sobering up a little first."

"Coffee it is then." Clarke said with a smile as she pulled Lexa up from the sun-lounger.

"You know coffee doesn't actually work to sober people up," Lexa replied following after Clarke, "it's an urban myth…"

"Seriously?" Clarke asked, turning her head to look at the other girl.

"You're just adding liquid on top of liquid," Lexa replied with a nod, "basically you're just diluting the alcohol you already have in your stomach. Food is better, it soaks it up."

"Let me guess, you enjoy science?" the blonde asked with a laugh.

"I saw it on a documentary once." Lexa said with a laugh.

"Geek…" Clarke said, pulling Lexa closer to her.

Lexa nodded before their lips met again. She backed away before things got heated again.

"Food first…" she said, resting her forehead against Clarke's.

"Food first." Clarke said with a nod.

"Then gotta wait like 20 minutes…" the brunette said with a smirk, Clarke gave her a questioning look, "can't work out on a full stomach."

Clarke laughed as she shook her head.

"You really are an idiot." She said to Lexa.

"Yeah, but you love me." Lexa replied, blushing a little as she realised what she had said.

Before Clarke could say anything Octavia walked back into the kitchen.

"We're ordering pizza," she said, "you two horn-dogs want some."

"Pizza sounds good…" Lexa said with a nod as she walked past Clarke and back towards the living room area where everyone was hanging out.

"What was that all about?" Octavia asked Clarke.

"No idea…" the blonde replied shaking her head a little.

x-x-x-x-x

Lexa dropped herself down on the sofa next to Raven and Lincoln.

"What's the matter?" Raven asked, "you can't find any more surfaces to nearly screw Clarke on?"

"There are plenty more," Lexa said, looking at Raven, "the hood of your car for one."

"You wouldn't." Raven replied.

"Try me." Lexa said with a small laugh.

"Remind me not to piss you off," Raven said with a laugh of her own, "seriously though, what's up, you look like you want the ground to open up and swallow you."

"Figure of speech that was maybe more than a figure of speech, I don't know…" Lexa said with a shrug as she dropped her head against the back of the sofa.

"Explain." Raven replied.

"Clarke called me an idiot, and I said…" Lexa started to say.

"You said 'yeah, but you love me' didn't you…" the other girl said with a laugh, "god you two are so sweet it's hurting my teeth."

Lexa opened her eyes and looked at Raven.

"Not helping, got it." Raven said, "if you hadn't have freaked out about it, Clarke probably wouldn't have even given it another thought, you know that right…"

"Yeah, but I did…" Lexa said with a sigh, "whose idea was it for me to drink."

"Yours." Lincoln and Raven said at the same time.

"I'm just going to go home…" Lexa grumbled as she moved to stand up.

"Do you even know your way home from here?" Lincoln asked with a small smile.

"That way." Lexa said pointing to her left.

"Nope." Lincoln said with a laugh.

Lexa pointed to her right and Lincoln shook his head a little.

"Oh I've got it," Lexa said, "out to the road and call a cab… where do I live again?"

Lincoln and Raven both laughed as Lexa laid back against the sofa and closed her eyes, grumbling about being trapped in her own personal version of hell. At that moment Clarke and Octavia walked back in from the kitchen and Raven walked over to them.

"She's freaking…" Raven said, "if it wasn't so cute it'd be funny."

Clarke laughed a little and shook her head, walking over to the sofa, she sat in the spot that Raven had just vacated. She pulled her legs up under her and rested her arm on the back of the sofa. Leaning over a little she whispered in Lexa's ear.

"I kind of do…" she said quietly.

She saw a small smile playing on Lexa's lips as the other girl kept her eyes closed.

"Please don't let me drink again…" Lexa mumbled.

"But you're cute when you drink." Clarke said with a laugh, "you're a cute drunk."

"I'm a stupid drunk." Lexa replied, turning her head and looking at Clarke, "hi…"

"Hi…" Clarke said with a smile, softly kissing Lexa before backing away a little.

"You're really pretty…" Lexa said.

"And that is my cue to move." Lincoln said with a laugh as he stood up.

"Knew that would work." Lexa said with a laugh as she turned a little and lay her head on Clarke's legs and stretched her legs out over the sofa where Lincoln had been sitting.

Clarke couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her as she looked down at Lexa.

x-x-x-x-x-x

After the pizza had been delivered and eaten, people started to make their way home, or upstairs to one of the many spare rooms. Lexa, who had sobered up significantly, was helping Bellamy to tidy up as Raven, Octavia and Clarke danced around the living room, with Monty and Jasper picking out the songs.

"You really don't have to help you know." Bellamy said as he and Lexa took a pile of pizza boxes through to the kitchen.

"Least I can do considering how close I came to christening your breakfast area…" Lexa said with a laugh.

"Do you know something," he said, "I've known Clarke for years, nearly 10 years actually, and I don't think I've ever seen her smile as much as she does when she's around you… as much as I was… disappointed when she met you…"

"Disappointed?" Lexa asked with a laugh, as she and Bellamy stood in the kitchen.

"I was going to ask her out," he said, "kept putting it off and putting it off, then you show up…"

"Sorry?" Lexa said.

"No need to be," Bellamy replied, "it wasn't going to happen anyway. But, like I was saying, you make her happy, and when Clarke's happy, everyone is happy. Though if you hurt her…"

"You'll kill me?" The brunette asked.

"No, I'll set my sister on you." He replied, causing both of them to laugh.

Clarke walked into the kitchen hearing Lexa and Bellamy laughing.

"What's funny?" she asked, walking over to them.

"Nothing," Bellamy said, shaking his head a little before looking at Lexa, "I'll leave you to it…"

Lexa nodded and smiled as he walked back into the living room.

"What was that about?" Clarke asked, walking over to Lexa and putting her arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

"He was just telling me how he'll set Octavia on me if I hurt you," Lexa replied, putting her arms around Clarke, "and how he was building up to ask you out before I turned up."

"Seriously?" Clarke asked, shaking her head a little, "that would never have worked, I love him to bits, but he's like an older brother I never had."

"Yeah, he said it wouldn't have happened." Lexa said with a laugh.

"You feeling better?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah," Lexa said with a nod, "much… you're still the most beautiful person I've ever met though…"

Clarke smiled a little as she closed the distance between them and kissed Lexa softly.

"And I was thinking about what nearly happened earlier…" Lexa said, feeling her cheeks start to burn, "I'm usually a lot more in control of myself than that…"

"I like not in control you…" Clarke replied, biting her bottom lip a little, "it's hot…"

"Do you know which room we're staying in?" Lexa asked, her eyes flicking from Clarke's eyes to her lips.

"I do…" Clarke replied, taking both of Lexa's hands and leading her from the kitchen, and through the living room, "Night guys…"

"You two try and keep the noise down." Octavia said with a smirk.

"No promises." Lexa replied with a laugh as she and Clarke went upstairs.


End file.
